Banana Flower Salad With Poached Coconut Chicken
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 15 minutes plus 20 minutes resting
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves 2 for dinner
- 1 chicken breast
- 1 banana flower
- 1 golden eschallot, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 bunch Thai basil, leaves only
- 1 bunch snake beans (about 10 long beans), cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2/3 cup deep fried shallots
- 1/4 cup roasted cashews
- 2 red chillies
- 150ml/5fl ozs. coconut cream
- a dozen cooked prawns
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon sugar syrup
Step 1 - First poach the chicken breast. In a saucepan, cover the chicken breasts with water and heat to a simmer. Turn heat down low so that it is barely simmering-there should only be a few bubbles appearing as you want to softly poach the chicken. Cook for 10-15 minutes and check that the breasts are cooked through at the fattest part. Remove from water and cool.
Step 2 - Have a bowl of acidulated water ready (add 2 tablespoons vinegar to 1 litre of water). You will want to work quickly to prevent the banana flower going brown too quickly. Cut the banana flower lengthways and cut out the core. Remove the little "fingers". Finely slice the banana flower and place into the water. Leave for 20 minutes.
Step 3 - Meanwhile mix the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar syrup to make the dressing. Prepare the rest of the ingredients. Squeeze the water out of the banana flower and place in a large bowl. Add the eschallot, basil leaves, snake beans, deep fried shallots, cashews and chillies. Toss with prawns, the dressing and half of the coconut cream. Slice the chicken breast and top with the rest of the coconut cream and serve.