February 18, 2011

Papaya Flowers as a dish for good health!!

I wonder when people started eating papaya flowers! But I do know from quite a young age that durian flowers and banana flowers are delectable dishes cooked by several indigenous groups of people in Sarawak. My friend Zaharah cooks the best durian flowers to my knowledge.Each time I see durian flowers being sold in the bazaar(pasar tani ) I would surely be thinking of her lovely recipe....

Banana flowers are often sold as a vegetable in Miri. It is again a lovely "vegetable" to eat. Usually we cook it in a thin santan and spiced up with chili and belacan.

But nowadays papaya flowers have become quite a rage in Miri. They are frequently found in E Mart and are sold at 2 ringgit a plate (see photo).

After blanching the flowers to get rid of any sap you can fry them like kangkong or any beans.

They are known to have brought down high blood pressure for many people. Try it if you like.

15 comments:

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

Wow! I didn't know, looks like these are male flowers. My parents used to chop the male papaya trees down.

Anonymous said...

There are three tyops of papaya: tree with male flowers only, with femaie flowers only and with both male and female.

Anonymous said...

i have found another gem -photos of old Sibu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00zYf58F254

Ah Ngao said...

papaya flowers edible..? that's something new for me(guess im still quite sakai). one of my co-worker ever told me she cook or stew these young papayas or unripe papaya for her daughters so that they would grow up with full(big) and firm breasts - you ever heard of that ? if not mistaken...something like a ,producing a lot of milk during their after-child delivery

Bengbeng said...

interesting..will look out for it

sintaicharles said...

My blood pressure is quite high. I will surely buy papaya flowers at sight of them.

Ensurai said...

Ann...I used to think how can we have papayas if we human beings go around chopping down the male trees!! So many females no males!! Now I know that there are both male and female flowers growing on the same tree too...Hahaha...The only Males Chinese people cut down are Papaya trees...so we used to say...why not call them Mamayas...lame I know...

Ensurai said...

Anonymous...thanks for the explanation. Both male and female flowers glowing together are so few and hard to find. I have not seen one myhself.

Ensurai said...

Anonymous...thanks for the GEM!! Keep them coming!

Ensurai said...

Ah Ngao...young papayas are very good for salads and cooking of chicken stew (Philippines)..and my family used to grow a lot of papayas. When some became uprooted we quickly picked the unripe ones up to cook..some were sent to the pigs. We did not know about making of salads then. We did not waste any food. Half ripe papayas cooked with chicken will definitely lead to better lactation of new mothers. Nice of you to remind me that!!

Ensurai said...

Beng Beng
How are you? Papaya flowers are sold very frequently in Miri!! Try a little first...

Ensurai said...

Charles...you can get them in E Mart. I am not sure about Tamu Muhibbah though.

Eye Creams said...

We know that the Papaya Flowers as a dish for good health. Banana flowers are often sold as a vegetable in Miri. It is again a lovely "vegetable" to eat. Usually we cook it in a thin Santana and spiced up with chili and belacan.

Ensurai said...

Thanks Eye Creams for the recipe. I cook these flowers using bean sprouts recipes....

Anonymous said...

you people buy papaya flowers or banana flowers??
am from Mauritius and here we dont buy any of these..!
its planted in almost everywhere on side streets and almost everybody got a papaya plant in their courtyard..!
you can just go and pick it from nywhere you wish..!

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