Sarawakian Local Delights : Banana Stems cooked with Old Chicken

Bananas are grown all over Sarawak and in order to have the best bananas, many of the suckers have to be cut down in order to allow the best plant to grow to maturity.

The suckers which are taken down are not wasted. Instead they are important food.

One of the bet ways to cook banana stem is to cook it in soup with old hens. The hens are prepared and their skins burnt or "tunu". Then they are cut into small pieces and made into a soup. Once the soup is ready, the blanched banana stems are added to the chicken soup.

Boil down the soup until only a little of the soup is left, just enough to cover the pieces of chicken and chopped banana stems. Add seasoning to taste. It is a very sweet dish and it is a dish with nostalgic, traditional flavours.