Bombax flowers (Photo: tintuconline.com.vn)

A: Welcome to VOV24/7’s Food Delight, bringing you helpful cooking tips and recipes.

B: On today’s show, we will share a special recipe derived from bombax flowers.

A: It seems to be a strange dish. It sounds interesting. I know many dishes made from flowers like squash blossoms, lavender, lotus, bauhinia. This is the first I’m hearing about a dish with bombax flowers, though.

B: Bombax flowers are brilliant red flowers which are in full bloom only once in March every year. The flowers has five large but thick petals. In March, some streets in Hanoi are lightened with red bombax flower trees.

A: Joining us on today’s show is well-known food blogger Phan Anh Esheep. Phan Anh will share with us her knowledge about bombax flowers stir-fried with beef, a dish that she associates with memories of her childhood.

Phan Anh: “Stir-fried bombax flowers was a dish that my grandmother used to cook. In the past, life was difficult, and people used bombax as a kind of vegetable substitute. This is a short-lived dish, because bombax flowers bloom once in March, normally in the countryside of the North. People often use the petals and stamen of bombax flowers for food”.

A: The Bombax flowers’ stamen look a bit like enoki mushrooms or like shredded banana flowers, but it tastes quite different from any other ingredient. Cooked bombax flowers have crunchy texture. It is not gluey and quick to melt in your mouth.

B: When cooking bombax flowers, it is important to get rid of the mucilage of the flowers. Phan Anh will show us how to do it.

Phan Anh: “First, you have to peel off the flower cup, petals, and isolate the stamen. It looks similar to enoki mushrooms. Take off the anthers. Separate the stamen, which you’ll find covering the calyx. Then, we get rid of the mucilage and sap of the flowers. Boil a big pot of water. Add 2 spoons of salt. Put the stamen into the boiling water and boil them for 10 to 15 minutes. Then, wash the stamen several times until it is completely clean”.

A: I think this may be the most time-consuming step. But let’s not dilly-dally. While that’s going on, I will help marinate the beef. Bombax flowers go well with beef.

Bombax flowers stir-fried with beef (Photo: ngoisao.net)

Phan Anh: “For this dish, we have 300 grams of beef. It’s better to use beef tenderloin which is cut into thin slices. Marinate the beef with one spoon of oil, a teaspoon of fish sauce, salt, chopped shallots and garlic. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Stir-fry the shallots and garlic. Add half an onion. Next, add the bombax stamen. Adjust the seasoning. Cook it quickly. Pour the cooked flowers into a plate. Heat the frying pan with oil again. Stir-fry the beef with chopped shallots and garlic. When the beef is nearly cooked, put the flowers in and cook together with the beef. Add some spring onion. Pour the cooked flowers on the plate. Add some black pepper and serve it hot”.

B: Bombax flowers stir-fried with beef is so special because it’s not the kind of dish you have for daily meals. It has a distinctive fragrance, reminiscent of that of flowers. Many people can’t wait for March to enjoy this dish, which has come to be identified with feelings of nostalgia and past memories.

A: Special thanks to Phan Anh Esheep for being with us today. We hope to meet her again in the future for more special recipes. Good bye. See you next time.