Ginisang Puso Ng Saging Recipe

One of the many vegetables I enjoy having is “puso ng saging” or banana heart/blossom. A perfect background veggie for Kare-kare and sinigang na bangus, it is the star of a popular dish which calls for it to be cooked in coconut cream (ginataang puso). I remember a slightly different version, though. Mom would cook it without the cream and it had a hint of tartness in it (she is Kapampanga.. no wonder). I searched all over the internet and I got mostly the creamed one. So I uttered a silent “good luck to me” as I tried to recreate this childhood food from memory. Once done with the cooking, I spooned some of the little sauce on a bowl of steaming Japanese rice and scooped a generous portion of the veggie on top.

Ingredients:

  • 1 big Puso ng Saging (Banana Heart/Bud)
  • 1/4 k Kalabasa (squash)
  • 100 gms vermicelli noodles
  • 200 gms small shrimp (you can opt to remove the shells)
  • 1 medium size tomato (diced)
  • 1 medium size onion (sliced)
  • 3 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 cups water
  • salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:

  1. Remove red layers of the puso ng saging until a yellowish core
  2. is revealed.
  3. Sliced the core thinly and soaked in salted water.
  4. Rinse and squeeze the veggies, throw away the water. Do this twice or until the sap is completely off the veggies.
  5. In a pan, saute garlic until light brown in color. Add onion and tomatoes and stir fry until tender.
  6. Put in soy sauce and pepper. Saute for a minute.
  7. Add shrimp and cook for until shrimps changes in color. Add water and bring to a boil.
  8. Add the banna heart veggies, sprinkle some salt and pepper. Cover and cook until vegetables are tender.
  9. Stir in vermicelli noodles before removing from heat.
  10. Serve.

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