Banana Tree Leaf
The banana tree leaf is strong and durable and therefore used for cooking all over the world. If you live outside the tropics, you can either grow your own banana leaves or purchase frozen banana leaves from stores that sell South East Asian, African, Latin American or generally International food. The earliest examples of banana tree leaf cooking predate the Iron Age in South East Asia, the region from which the banana plant is believed to hail. Eventually, the banana plant spread to Africa and the Neo-tropics and became incorporated in the cooking traditions of these regions as well.
In Chinese cooking it is common to wrap a banana tree leaf around a tough cut of meat and steam it as long as necessary for the tough piece of meat to become soft and tender. Banana tree leaves are also used for finger food, such as Chinese rice cakes. In India, the banana tree leaf will be used instead of porcelain plates, while Sri Lankan cooking often uses the banana tree leaf to add flavor to parcels of baked rice. When soft and flexible leaves are needed, banana leaves will be passed over a flame or tossed into boiling water for a few seconds. Below you will find a one suggestion about how to incorporate the banana tree leaf in your cooking.
Meat filled banana tree leaf
This recipe comes from Congo in Central Africa, but similar dishes are prepared all over the world where banana plants grow, including South-East Asia and Latin America.
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Ingredients
2-3 pounds of beef
1-2 onions
Chile pepper, to taste
Banana leaves
Salt, to taste
Cayenne pepper or red pepper, to taste
Juice from two lemons
Instructions
- Cut the beef into bite-sized pieces.
- Cut the onion.
- Cut the chili pepper.
- Place the banana leaves in a hot oven for 30 seconds or on top of a grill. Boiling water will also work. The aim is to make them softer and more flexible.
- Remove the centre rib from each banana tree leaf by cutting across it using a knife and simply pulling it away.
- Form rectangles by cutting the ends of each banana tree leaf.
- Sprinkle salt and cayenne/red pepper onto each banana leaf.
- Place onion, chili pepper and meat on top of each banana leaf.
- Use the lemon juice to moisten the meat.
- Enclose the ingredients inside a 2-3 layers thick package by folding the banana leaves. If you find this part complicated, use oven-proof string to secure the packages.
- Place the packages on a rack over boiling water. Turn them every 10th minute. They will be ready after roughly one hour.
- If you want to, you can finish the steamed packages by grilling them, but this is not mandatory.
