Malaysian Persuasion- Dinner at Banana Leaf

Spoiled rotten, that’s what we are. Despite our sublingual climate, living in Houston has its perks when it comes to the culinary department. Tired of Thai? How about Vietnamese? No? Chinese, Japanese, Korean? No? Let’s do Malaysian!

The Banana Leaf is located in a strip center on Bellaire Boulevard, just east of the Beltway. On entry, the interior almost looks too nice to offer anything authentic, with wall mounted digital frames flashing pictures of various dishes and fancy wooden chopsticks, but on the other side of the kitchen’s glass window, things are looking rather serious. Flames shoot up from a hula hoop sized wok and a loud hiss fills the small restaurant that sounds ominously delicious. The menu is huge and daunting. It’s advisable to study it online and extensively research the unknown dishes before attempting to order. Or you could ask the waiters for their suggestions and entrust they won’t let you down, which rarely happens. Being that Malaysian cuisine has been influenced by so many other cultures, the flavors of India, China, Indonesia and Thailand contribute to the Malay recipes.

The appetizer was a good foreshadowing of things to come. We quickly devoured the beautiful stack of taro coated fried shrimp with a lacy thin outer crust. Our entrees followed soon after and the two stars dishes were my shrimp curry, with big fat shrimp and a sauce similar to a Thai yellow curry, but with less heat and more shrimp paste funkiness, and the littlest son’s magnum opus of a dish, the Sarang Burong, which translates to ‘Bird’s Nest’. Similar to mashed potatoes, the cook had shaped a bowl from taro and flash fried it so that it held its form. It was filled with an assortment of shrimp and vegetables like baby corn, Shitake mushrooms and cashews and we all helped him kill the four pound presentation. Our eldest ordered the flat noodles with beef and scallions, which turned out to use a surprisingly good cut of meat unlike most other places of the Leaf’s caliber. The only disappointed diner at our table was the patriarch who had ordered the barbecued flounder, which turned out to be fried, a no no for his attempt at a healthy diet. But it was a great example of fish, moist and flaky from it’s banana leaf wrap and filleted table-side which is always cool to watch. The kids wanted to keep the bones but we declined.

The next time your stubborn palate wants for something new, check out this little Malay joint on the Westside. Bring skinny friends or small children so you can help yourself to a bit of everything on the table without much resistance.

Banana Leaf
9889 Bellaire Blvd.
Houston, TX 77036
713.771.8118

www.bananaleafhouston.com

Hara Masala Pomfret (Fish in Green Curry) Recipe

I first had the chicken hara masala, a cilantro based masala at Himalaya Restaurant (see post here) and subsequently when we went back and my husband ordered it with shrimp. Both were 'like whoa' delicious and I decided to try to pull off a fish version from my own kitchen.


Here are most of the ingredients you'll need, slightly modified to what I had available. (Imagine a few peeled, diced potatoes and a few green chilies.) The plate holds garlic, turmeric powder and coriander seeds. The fish is tilapia- I bought about 20 individually vacuum sealed fillets for $15. This is a great dish for this versatile white fish. The full recipe is at the bottom of the post. You will also need a side of rice. Either basmati or jasmine works well. See "How to Make Perfect Rice Every Time" here.


I didn't have any fresh green chilies but I did have this habanero.


First, blend the coriander seeds and the turmeric in a blender (a food processor works even better). Blend until the seeds are reasonably pulverized.


You need about 2" of ginger. It's easy to peel by scraping with a spoon. Throw it in the blender along with the chilies and a TBSP of salt.


I used about 8 cloves of garlic. You can peel garlic quickly by holding the clove at each end and twisting in opposite directions. The papery jacket slides right off, if you're lucky. Next, coarsely chop a whole onion and throw it and the now nude garlic into the blender and blend away.


Now you are going to cram two bunches of fresh coriander/cilantro, stems and leaves, into the blender. Do a handful at a time. You might/will need to add a bit of water. Try a TBSP or so at a time until things get going. Once everything looks fairly smooth, turn off the blender.


In a pot, add a bit of cooking oil (2 TBSPs tops) turn heat up to medium. Pour your masala paste into the pot and bring to a low boil for about a minute. If you want to add any veggies, I suggest par-cooking them first. I used potatoes. Throw them in the pot until they are almost done.


Begin to add your fish. I used tilapia cut into 2" pieces. Just drop them in and make sure they are covered well with the sauce. Put the lid on and let cook for about 5 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. Serve over a bowl of rice and watch in amazement the amazement of others that you actually made this and not only is it edible, it's really quite delicious.


Ingredients:

30 oz. tilapia (or other white fish) boneless/skinless fillets, thawed
2 bunches of fresh coriander/cilantro
5-10 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 medium onion
2-5 green chilies
2" fresh peeled ginger
2 TBSP coriander seeds
1.5 TBSP turmeric powder
Salt 1 TBSP to taste

Gear:
Blender/Food processor
Big pot and lid
Cooked rice (no fail rice recipe here)