Good morning…from sunny Thailand…It’s Friday and time for some recipes and a chat…Bananas… I reckon everyone can buy a banana and has most certainly eaten or made banana bread and or a banana muffin…But do you know much about the banana, its health benefits and uses?
Bananas grow everywhere here...In gardens, by the roadside and on plantations…
Its scientific name is Musa Sapientum which roughly translated means Fruit of wise men
Here it is called Kluay pronounced glue eye.
Seasons vary slightly around the regions and it is a tree-like perennial and officially classed as a herb, the world’s largest herb as it can reach 25 feet in height. The fruit is also classed as a berry. Did you know that?
Here in Thailand leaves are used to serve food on or wrap food in like these little parcels of tri-coloured sticky rice topped with shredded pork floss.
The saying that you eat with your eyes certainly applies here as so much of the food is just so beautifully served and such lovely colours like this rice aren’t they pretty and all wrapped in a banana leaf.
Banana flowers are, as the name suggests, the blossoms from a banana tree. Left on the tree, considered as a vegetable. It’s a very good source of fibre and has many medicinal values.
Banana flowers are the purplish-red flowers growing at the end of the long banana stem. The mature flower often has hard husks on the outside. When the husks have been peeled away, the leaves in the middle can be used to cook. It is also used to make a salad in some countries as well. If you are about to buy some for cooking, you should make sure to choose the fresh ones which are tight and undamaged. The outer husks should be closely overlapped each other for freshness purposes.
The flower can be eaten steamed with a spicy dip or made into a salad…For banana, recipes see this post…
As well as Thailand being known for a great source of Bananas...How about a trip to Banana Beach in Phuket?
A small beach which can only be accessed by climbing down …Just as well I had Aston to help me and take my hand he is such a good boy to his Nannie…
It was a little way down and a bit slippery in places…But finally, we were on the beach…
It was well worth the climb apart from somewhere to buy a soft drink and a snack, a few boats offering trips to neighbouring islands just lovely sand and blue sea…
We spent a lovely few hours there just relaxing it was beautiful…
Nam Pboon Sai…A red banana dessert…
How was it made…The translation from my daughter in law was it is lime powder…from limes? Apparently not…It is a red powder she said…Ok…
Where does my red Lime powder fit in well it is sold here and apparently some of the powder is rubbed under the top gum of the mouth…I was warned( not) that I had any intention of doing that …To be careful it may burn!!!!!!!!
I was also getting a lot of surprised looks and smiles which translated I think meant what is this lady doing buying that… just as well I had Tik with me to translate that I wasn’t intending to smoke or rub it under my gums but cook…They still looked slightly bemused but I am used to that now.
I just wanted to know and see what made this Banana dessert red…..
To make red lime, powdered turmeric is added to the mixture. Instead of turning yellow like turmeric, this pasty mixture turns bright red. Nam Pboon Sai or limewater is made when more water is added to the mixture. When the lime settles, the clear, pinkish water above is used in cooking.
Limewater is used in Thai cooking to keep fruit used in long cooking like a banana in syrup or breadfruit in syrup. The fruit is peeled and cut and let soak in the lime water.
The grandmother here stores her red lime paste in a jar filled with water. The heavier lime sinks to the bottom while the clear limewater floats above. When she needs the limewater, it’s ready. She would pour the clear pinkish water out from the jar. She just tops up the limewater by adding more water to the jar. There is also no need to refrigerate limewater or lime paste.
Just a word of warning…
The powder I bought was available in red or white but apparently also comes as a red paste. It is pictured here with the pretty eggplants I found…
If you get pickling lime from hardware stores, which often have canning materials available, make sure you get the food-grade quality. The lime building material may contain a metal such as lead.
This is where I began to get quite scared as I know that there are some who just mix whatever they have to sell with no regard for the consequences.
The bananas in this desert look bright and shiny and sweet but are not as sweet as they look… I have found a recipe and now need to find the right bananas…So that is for another day…
That is all for today...Thank you for joining me x
About Carol Taylor:
Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.
I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.
Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.
The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year
Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!
Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a creative week ahead xx
BBQ Salt Fish 
Retired? No one told me! 