Cooking In and On Leaves

[johannafin]

Can you use banana leaves from a decorative banana plant, or does it have to be from a fruit bearing plant? We have a pretty large hardy banana plant with good size leaves, after seeing this topic I was wondering about using them for wrappers.

Johanna

[chezcherie]

grilled mozzarella on lemon leaves. pretty, and imparts a subtle smokey citrus flavor.

[Beebs]

Dried bamboo leaves for zong zi - sticky rice + sweet or savoury fillings, wrapped with bamboo leaves. It's soooo good!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Can you use banana leaves from a decorative banana plant, or does it have to be from a fruit bearing plant? We have a pretty large hardy banana plant with good size leaves, after seeing this topic I was wondering about using them for wrappers.

Johanna

You absolutely can. A good friend of mine uses Musa basjoo and Musa dasycarpa leaves all the time - they're easier to harvest than the leaves off of the taller "edible" bananas.

[heidih]

grilled mozzarella on lemon leaves. pretty, and imparts a subtle smokey citrus flavor.

That is going into the line-up! I have lime, tangerine and various oranges I can pick leaves from. I am trying to visualize the rather small leaf with the mozz - and how to avoid a drippy mess. Can you elaborate on technique?

[andiesenji]

grilled mozzarella on lemon leaves. pretty, and imparts a subtle smokey citrus flavor.

That is going into the line-up! I have lime, tangerine and various oranges I can pick leaves from. I am trying to visualize the rather small leaf with the mozz - and how to avoid a drippy mess. Can you elaborate on technique?

I've seen them formed into a fan and fastened together with one staple at the stem ends and after the dish is finished, the stems with the staple is cut away before service.

Makes a very pretty presentation.

I've seen the same process done with fig leaves.

[chezcherie]

i just use bocconcini on individual leaves. the bite-sized pieces sit atop the lemon leaves, and i dont grill them long enough for drippy mess-age.only takes a few minutes. i think i may have gotten the idea from sunset magazine.

[chezcherie]

forgot to add--i usually drizzle with a little olive oil, and crisscross roasted red pepper strips across the top.

[Jenni]

On a tangentially related note, does anybody else here eat banana flowers?

I missed this before, but yes! They are a HUGE pain to prepare, but I do love them. My favourite dish is from Kerala, it is a simple dish of whole moong, banana flower, coconut and simple seasonings. There are also some great Bengali and Oriya dishes, including such innovative things as banana flower "chop" or cutlet, which is...well, exactly what it sounds like!

Generally I reserve making banana flower dishes for when I have time to sit somewhere for an hour so and leisurely do the prep work on the flowers. Knife in hand and a big bowl of buttermilk (the real kind leftover from churning butter) ready to put the flowers in (to prevent discolouration), and I can while away the time quite nicely so long as I have good company or nice scenery or good music or all three!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I'd never heard of the buttermilk trick - I've always just used water with pink rock salt to prevent discolouration and draw out the bitterness. I'll have to try it!

My fave is a Thai method that uses the male flowers and pale, cream-coloured bracts poached in coconut milk with green chilis; this is normally served using one of the red bracts as a dish, with the largest prawns one can find.

And I agree completely about it being a time-consuming process, but there's something serenly calming about preparing a bud - it's almost like a meditation.

[abadoozy]

Wait a minute - Canna leaves? Like the Cannas I grow in pots on my deck every summer? Or do I have to find some special variety.

I've never heard of cooking with them. As Banana leaves are impossible to get here, I'd be very interested to hear anything about cooking with Cannas.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Yes, as in the Cannas you grow in pots on your deck every summer. All Cannas are useable - it's just that Ecuadorians are kind of snobby about it, so we'd tell you that 'Achira' is the best of them (C. indica). However, I've used Canna 'Stuttgardt' and 'Tropicana' with excellent results, and I expect that pretty much anything in the Crozier, Foliage, or Italian group of cultivars would be just as good. The two I mentioned have variegated coloured foliage, which makes for a very decorative result.

I'll post a recipe for Quimbolitos, a soft corn or quinua bread steamed in Canna leaves, in the RecipeGullet for you shortly. You can also use the leaves for Maito - upthread I posted a method that shows banana leaves, but which is easily adaptable to Canna.

[abadoozy]

Thanks Panaderia! I'll go look for the recipe. Any other hints about how to use Canna leaves besides the Quimbolitos? I plan on having a LOT of leaves.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I've also got recipes for steaming rice in them; they work beautifully on the grill with various meats inside them, you can wrap fresh mozza in them (queso de hoja) to impart a smoked flavour; there are literally thousands of uses.

[johannafin]

Can you use banana leaves from a decorative banana plant, or does it have to be from a fruit bearing plant? We have a pretty large hardy banana plant with good size leaves, after seeing this topic I was wondering about using them for wrappers.

Johanna

You absolutely can. A good friend of mine uses Musa basjoo and Musa dasycarpa leaves all the time - they're easier to harvest than the leaves off of the taller "edible" bananas.

Thanks for the info, our banana plant is just coming up. I'll have to try some fish wrapped in banana leaves on the grill this year!

Johanna

[TheCulinaryLibrary]

Pandan leaf wrapped chicken thigh is popular here as is Laab served on Betel leaves. Both are highly aromatic but whilst the Betel is soft and edible, the Pandan is tough and used to cook in but not eat.Even adding Pandan leaves to rice while its cooking imparts a wonderful flavor.

[TheCulinaryLibrary]

Just remembered Perilla leaves( sometimes sold in Asian shops as Shiso). Great for wrapping up cooked meat fillings and around cold rolls and their spicy, pungent, minty-cinnamon flavor jumps out when you tempura them whole.

[EatNopales]

There were some earlier mentions of leaves in Yucatan cooking.... in addition to the Cochinita Pibil & various tamales... Banana leaves are also extensively used in grilling seafood... an iconic dish is Tikin Xic:

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/2832-yucatecan-baked-fish-tikin-xic

Other leaves used in the Yucatan are Hoja Santa (Piper Auritam) as well as Tropical Almond (Terminalia Cappa) & Chaya (Cnidoscolus chayamansa)

Cooking in leaves is an essential component in all the indigenous cuisines of Mexico... everybody knows tamales.. but that just scratches the surface... basically every community has some kind of dish where they stuff raw local / seasonal proteins & vegetables, douse with any number of salsas or seasoning pastes, wrap & then steam in its own juices, with vapor, smoke or dry heat.

There are thousands of these dishes.... all delicious.. I generally prefer cooking items in their own juices on a comal.. you get some intensified flavors, great texture & smokiness from the toasting of leaves.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Thanks Panaderia! I'll go look for the recipe. Any other hints about how to use Canna leaves besides the Quimbolitos? I plan on having a LOT of leaves.

Here's the method for wrapping whole fish (or really, any meat) in Canna leaves; my neighbour went fishing and brought me back three lovely rainbow trout on Friday evening, which became last night's dinner. I'm using Achira leaves, because that's the kind of Canna I've got in my garden - and I have to say, I prefer Heliconia leaves for this, simply because they're much broader.

With Canna, you need two leaves per fish, and you need to take into account two things. First, Canna is salty when you cook it (so don't salt your meat the first time round), and second, you'll end up with a lightly smoked flavour that comes from the leaves themselves (so balance your seasonings accordingly).

1. Select and wash your leaves. It's a good idea to measure your fish before you cut the leaves - that way you won't end up with a fish longer than the leaves. Shoot for 3-4" longer than the fish for maximum ease of wrapping.

2. Break the spines of the leaves with a rolling pin - this makes them easier to fold and bend. Don't skip this step!

3. Choose the broader of the two leaves and lay out your fish.

4. Lay out your fillings. I used a Valencia orange, thyme, rosemary, oregano, paico (epazote), and flat parsely. Incidentally, that's my non-stick gift Santoku, and despite my initial misgivings, I love it.

5. Stuff it all in there. I also rubbed the skin of my fish with Aliño to add a nice garlic-onion-cumin flavour.

6. Lay the narrower of the two leaves overtop.

7. Roll the sides inwards and secure with toothpicks (if you have some fancier solution, you can use it, but I like the toothpicks)

8. Roll the ends inwards and secure with toothpicks (this is why you can't skip step 2)

9. Onto the pan they go!

10. I baked these at 350 for about 45 minutes; they can also go on the grill for about an hour, or in the steamer for about 30 minutes.

11. The unwrapped bundle. If you're careful about how you peel the fish, most of the skin will have stuck to the leaf at the bottom; in one of the packets, it had also stuck to the top leaf, which meant that it skinned the fish easily in the process of opening it up.

[Darienne]

PanaCan, you are a cooking artist.

[Jaymes]

I'd have to roam the neighborhood at night for banana leaves, but might just plant a tree for that purpose...

And until your banana tree grows big enough to provide you with leaves, you might just check out a local Mexican market. I've bought frozen banana leaves in markets all over the US, so I'd bet you can find some locally.

Also, let me add my kudos to PanCan for this thread, and for many more interesting and insightful contributions to eG.

How does that old saying go...? PanCan Cook?

Did I get that right?

I sure think so.

[Carolyn Phillips]

Second that emotion w/r/t the great idea for this discussion. And canna leaves! That is so cool! I am going to try that soon.

As my love is Chinese food, I often cook with bamboo leaves and lotus leaves -- which have been mentioned above -- and they are not only pretty, but they impart a wonderful fragrance to whatever they contain. Chinese tamales (zongzi) take on a particularly beautiful shape, as shown here:

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Edited April 9, 2012 by Carolyn Phillips (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Carolyn, do you happen to know which species / type of bamboo is used for its leaves? It's quite a common crop down here for the wood, and if what I'm looking for is the leaves of giant cane, I can try making zongzi the right way for a change (I've been using banana leaves, which makes them come out more like banh jiao).

And if you think Canna is neat, just wait until I get my hands on some Heliconia and Shell Ginger leaves. Coconut-curry peanut and rice dumplings will be had by all!

[heidih]

just wait until I get my hands on some Heliconia and Shell Ginger leaves. Coconut-curry peanut and rice dumplings will be had by all!

Oh my - I have loads of shell ginger. Can you outline your recipe as those flavors are among my favorites.

[abadoozy]

Thanks so much, Panaderia Canadiense! I can't wait now for the Cannas to get big!