From Garden Bounty
The Tasty "Tum" of Banana’s Blossom

For tropical countries, the perennial banana may be no more bizarre. Apart from its sweet soft pulpy flesh, people can also use its blossom. When bunches have reached the proper size, the blossom will be normally cut to enable them to grow evenly. At a Balinese countryside, this blossom is a favourite vegetable when it is mixed with kelor or horseradish leaf or cooked into a single soup. Another dish made from this blossom is tum, a Balinese delicacy made from minced chicken (or other meat) seasoned with assorted tuber spices. Here, the blossom is employed to be its filler (instead of grated coconut, young coconut shell, jackfruit and so on).
Ingredients: 200gr chicken and 1 pc banana’s blossom
Spices: 2 cloves garlic; 4 cloves shallot; 2 cm kencur; 2 pcs small and large chili; 1 pc candlenut; 1 cm turmeric; 1 cm galangal; 1 cm ginger; 2 pcs fresh lime and salam leaves (sliced thinly);1/2 tsp salt; 1 tbsp fried shallot.
Others: some pieces of banana leaf and bamboo pin (semat).

1. Method:
   Peel some two outer sheathes of the banana blossom. Cut lengthwise into four sections and boil until well done. Take out and let them cool down. Then, slice for some ½ cm thick. Squeeze it again and again until its sap or water dries out.
   
2. Finely mince the chicken flesh.
   
3. Ground all spices. Mix the spices and minced flesh into a fine batter. Do not forget to add salt, the sliced lime and salam leaves.
   
4. Take a spoonful batter and put into banana leaf and wrap accordingly and fasten with bamboo pin. Finally, steam them for some 30 minutes. Afterwards, it’s ready to serve. (BTN/029)
   

Coco de Mar Ice

Theoretically, the April-October period is the dry season in Bali. During which we will easily feel thirsty, especially when we are more active under direct sunlight. But do not worry, just try to swallow Coco de Mar (not coco de mer). What’s that? It’s a simple blend of young coconut (its water and flesh) mixed with markisa or passion fruit, lemon and sugar syrup.
If Bahasa Indonesia has a proverb saying ‘tamarind from mountain ranges encounters salt from the sea in the earthen cooking pot, the drink above will add another. Coconut from the lowland area meets the passion fruit from highland at cold ambience in the glass. Their ‘rendezvous’ is then cooling down the thirst. Variants of this drink like that without passion fruit or even ice with assorted cubical fruits are easily found at street sides or traditional market sold by street vendor bringing a pushcart. (BTN/029)