Warm buffalo skin salad

By: Luke Nguyen
From: Luke Nguyen's Greater Mekong
Serves: 4
Photographer: Stuart Scott

Buffalo skin is considered a delicacy by the ethnic minority groups of Myanmar. Cooking this dish with Maiher, a village elder, was the very first time I had tried it, and I actually really enjoyed its texture. The buffalo skin itself didn’t have much flavour, but it absorbed and carried the flavours that were combined with it. If you can’t get your hands on buffalo skin, use cooked shredded pork skin instead; you can find this refrigerated at your local Vietnamese market, where it is called ‘da bi’. If you are using da bi, you don’t need to boil it — just toss it with the other ingredients as it is already cooked and ready to go.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
1	fresh banana blossom heart
2 tablespoons	peanut oil
3	garlic cloves, diced
3	red asian shallots, sliced
1/2 teaspoon	ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon	sweet paprika
1	ripe tomato, chopped
1 teaspoon	sea salt
1	red chilli, sliced
80g	dried buffalo skin, sliced
2	snake beans, sliced
3	garlic chives, sliced
1	indian root, sliced
or 1	baby leek or pencil leek, sliced, white part only
40g	roasted crushed unsalted peanuts, plus extra to garnish
	coriander, to garnish

Method

Peel away and discard the outer leaves from the banana blossom heart. Cook the banana blossom heart in a saucepan of boiling water for 15 minutes, or until tender. Strain, slice finely and set aside.
Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the peanut oil and sauté the garlic and shallot until fragrant.
Add the turmeric and paprika and sauté for 3 minutes. Now add the tomato, salt, chilli and buffalo skin and stir-fry for a further 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the banana blossom, snake beans, garlic chives, Indian root or leek and the peanuts in a large mixing bowl. Toss together well, then add the hot ingredients from the pan. Mix well.
Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl. Serve garnished with coriander and some extra crushed peanuts.