Banana, Is Not Just a Fruit

For those who do not live in the tropics might be surprised by the way Javanese processed bananas . Banana as fruit, eaten by peeling the skin and go directly into the mouth only one from many ways people eat bananas in Java .

 

There are tens maybe hundreds of types of bananas grown here . Starting from as little as fingers or as large so it's -called 'pisang tanduk' - horns banana . The colors are green , yellow , and red . Not all types of bananas delicious to eat just after ripened , some are too hard , gummy or even have seeds . That's why bananas processed, in addition to a food variety , also for the preservation in banana-producing areas .

Pisang Tanduk - Horn Banana

Here are some of the way people process bananas in Java :

1 . Fried .
This is the easiest and most common . The kind that suit for fried bananas include jackfruit banana (pisang nangka) or horn banana (pisang tanduk). How: create a batter of flour and water , do not be too watery . Insert the banana slices into the flour and then fried with vegetable oil . Usually we use palm oil here . Pisang Goreng!

 

2 . Boiled
Pisang Rebus. It's also easy , cook water in the pot , put sliced pisang nangka, pisang raja or pisang tanduk all the way with their skin on.

 

3 . In compote (Kolak).
Kolak Pisang. Banana cooked with coconut milk and palm sugar .

 

4 . to fills cake.
Nagasari cake is a cake made ​​from rice flour with banana slice inside . This cake wrapped in banana leaves and steamed .
Lots of bakery have banana bread, usually with raisins and chocolate sprinkle.

 

5 . Preserve it as a Sale
'Sale Pisang' is the way to preserve bananas . Peeled whole banana dried in the sun or put in the oven until the caramel out . It could be directly packaged or fried with flour before packaging.

Sale Pisang

6 . For the fruit salad sauce (Bumbu Rujak).
This is specific for stone bananas or banana with seed . Sliced young seedly bananas are pounded with rujak sauce: palm sugar , small chilli pepper, salt, fried nuts and tamarind . Bananas here serves to add body to the sauce and give it the aroma of the fragrant herbs that make the sauce more tasty and appealing.




In addition to the fruit, other parts of the banana is very important for daily life in Java. Banana leaves, whose leaf maybe the largest in the world, is very important to the Java culinary world. To wrap a wide variety of food, as plates, or for wrapping all kind of things organically.

Daun Pisang - Banana Leaves for sale

The other part is the edible heart of banana (Jantung pisang). This heart of banana can be made as side dish with rice. I think its banana flowers.

 

Banana stem is also useful. For the dalang (pupeteer), banana stem is useful for plugging puppet rod next to be played.

A Dalang and his banana stem puppet stand