Banana Leaves

[Chris Hennes]

I made tamales for dinner tonight and tried something new: I have an electric smoothtop range, so I turned a burner on medium-low with nothing on it. After I put the fillings in the tamale, but before I folded it, I took the whole thing over to the range and quickly heated it up right on the surface of the range, literally a few seconds before folding it over. It worked like a charm once I got the hang of how long to heat them for.

[nakji]

then pass them over a flame or grill, moving them constantly, until they soften and become pliable.

Yeah, I remember that now with the gas flame we had to keep them moving to keep from charring.

[kalypso]

I recently took a week long class at the CIA San Antonio on Mexican cuisine that was taught by Illiana de la Vega. We made a lot of tamales, including several varieties with banana leaves. Illiana said that normally the leaves would be softened by running them over a flame dull side down once the stalk had been removed and the leaves cleaned trimmed. But, she also said that some of the fresh banana leaves available in the U.S. can be really tough and don't always respond to flame softening (first time I'd heard this). Since almost everyone in this class was working in a professional kitchen and speed and consistency was important, the recommendation was to boil the banana leaves for a few minutes to soften them up. The leaves for all the banana leaf tamales we made in class were softened by boiling. It's the first time I've seen or used this method. It's easy and it works.

If you're trimming down banana leaves remember to cut them with the grain of the leaf (much like cutting flank steak) rather than against it.

[Kerala]

@KennethTwe popped out to get some basics at a local Nisa store in Maidstone. I guess Nisa stores have a lot of autonomy because this shop haa lot of unusual stuff. As we walked in we saw raw, fresh banana leaves. We chose the best 16 or so, looking for the most aesthetically pleasing leaves. Big Sis had already procured paper faux banana leaves, because it's hard to get real leaves. I think they came to 80 pence or so a leaf. 

To answer your question, the banana leaves were sitting there looking fresh on the floor of the supermarket.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Kerala said:

I think they came to 80 pence or so a leaf. 

 

Wow! Here I pay the equivalent of ₤1 for 50! If my maths is correct, that is 2 pence each. And that includes them being trimmed into near rectangles* and delivery to my door within half an hour. Untrimmed are cheaper.

 

* Which I realise may not be what you want but my usage is different.

 

 

 

 

[Kerala]

We would have accepted rectangular leaves if that was all that was available. Of course, there's a small sub-register in my brain saying ,"That's like 80 rupees for one leaf!" But these are an imported luxury here. No doubt I could get them cheaper if I hunted around. However, on that day, just as a surprise find, they were a must-buy!