Banana Flower Salad – A Unique and Delicious Dish from the Land of the Muong

From ancient times, the cuisine of the Muong people, in general, and the Muong people in Tan Son district, in particular, has been immortalized in poetry and music with many rustic and unique dishes that are not found everywhere. Alongside sticky rice, stream fish, and jars of sour bamboo shoots, banana flower salad, known as “mục hoa chuối” in Vietnamese, is a beloved dish in the Muong people’s feasts.

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Ingredients for making banana flower salad include wild banana flowers, lemongrass, galangal leaves, papaya leaves, lean pork, ground cartilage, minced wood ear mushrooms, and Chinese celery. The wild banana flowers contribute to the dish’s delicious taste without the bitter astringency of domestic banana flowers. Lemongrass and galangal leaves add a bitter taste and distinctive aroma to the dish, representing common spices in Muong cuisine.

After cleaning the banana flowers and thinly slicing them, they are soaked in water with salt or lemon juice, then rinsed and squeezed dry. Next, mix the flowers with the prepared ingredients, including a touch of sticky rice, minced bamboo shoots, and various spices. To achieve a more sticky and cohesive texture, some people soak a bit of glutinous rice, crush it, and mix it with the banana flower salad.

Once the ingredients are well-prepared, it’s time to wrap and steam the banana flower salad. The mixture is wrapped in dong leaves (a type of leaf), and the steaming process takes around 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on the quantity.

When the banana flower salad is ready to be served, it exhibits a chewy texture from the sticky rice, a sweet and savory taste from the lean pork and cartilage, the aromatic flavors of galangal leaves and lemongrass, and a slightly bitter taste from papaya leaves.

Chị Hà Thị Lý, a Muong person from Tan Phu commune in Tan Son district, shares that banana flower salad is a traditional dish that has been enjoyed by the Muong people for a long time. Nowadays, it is not only made for family meals and feasts but also produced as a commercial product sold at local markets for around 15,000 VND (Vietnamese Dong) per package. Besides banana flower salad, various other delicious dishes can be prepared from wild banana flowers, such as salads or stir-fries, adding richness and allure to the Muong people’s cuisine.