Double Heart for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is a celebration honoring mothers and motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world.

In the United States, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May and this year Mother’s day will be on May 11 so it is just around the corner.

Although in my country Mother’s Day or locally known as Hari Ibu is celebrated on December 22, I am inspired to cook something special for Mother’s day in May.

I am thinking about something rare and unusual …. and special …… so I browsed the internet to find something interesting and suddenly something unusual caught my attention. I saw a picture of what I recognized to be ‘jantung pisang’ or literally means banana heart.

If you’ve ever seen a banana tree, perhaps you have noticed the teardrop-shaped purple cone at the end of the banana fruit cluster. This is the banana heart, also called the banana blossom.

In a tropical country like my country, you’ll see these all the time, but so far I’ve never thought about cooking them.

Hey… I got an idea…why not try to cook banana heart for Mother’s Day?

To my surprise, there are so many recipes using banana heart. And one particular recipe has caught my attention – it’s a recipe of banana heart in duet with chicken heart so I named the recipe “Double Heart”

Why Double Heart?

Because the main ingredients are Banana Heart and Chicken Heart and………….I think you’ll agree with me that all Mothers deserve to get Tiffany & Co Double Heart Diamond Necklace on Mother’s Day as you can see in the picture above :-).

What is Banana heart?

The banana heart or also known as banana flower is a large, dark purple-red blossom that grows from the end of a bunch of bananas.

The banana heart is treated in several Asian and tropical cuisines as a vegetable. Many people may not know that banana flower buds, harvested after the fruit bunch has developed, are edible vegetables. The flavor is something between celery and spinach when the bud is properly prepared, and it is a tasty addition to stir fry and salads.

Chicken Heart

What? chicken heart? Yes, it is the heart of chicken.

Now don’t make a disgusted look with your face when you read that title. Chicken heart is extremely tasty and is actually one of my family’s favorite meals. Chicken hearts have a mild chicken flavor and do not taste or smell anything like liver, which my family find off-putting.

And here’s the recipe of “Double Heart” for Mother’s day

Ingredients:

1 banana heart
200 grams chicken heart
1 medium-size onion, thinly slices
2 cloves garlic, chopped
pinch of salt
chilies
2 salam leaves
galangal root (2 cm)
cooking oil for stir fry

Cooking instruction:

Clean and take the white part of the banana heart, split into 2 parts and sliced.

Boiled until tender, drained and squeezed to remove the bitter taste.
Clean the chicken heart and steamed for a few minutes until half cooked

Stir fry the onion, garlic and chillies and galangal root until fragrant
Add in the chicken hearts, continue to stir fry for several minutes until the chicken heart is well cooked
Add in the boiled banana heart and salam leaves, continue to stir fry for a few minutes
Add in salt