The Maldives – Boshi Mashuni (Flower Banana Salad)

by Fariha Saeed

About the dish

Boshi Mashuni is one of the most unique and appetizing salads in The Maldives. This is a crunchy, savory, and healthy salad. This is the combination of crunchy shredded banana flowers with sweet and fresh coconut. It also includes some spices with lime juice and then Maldivian chilies are added in to give it a more unique taste. The sweet coconut and Maldivian chili taste very well. When you take a bite of this delicious salad first you taste the sweet and fresh coconut and then slowly you can taste the chili with crunchy banana flowers. This is so yummy and healthy salad with a tangy twist. This is the most unique salad you can find in the Maldives. You can have this salad any time such as Breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, or you can serve this to parties as a starter. The interesting part of this dish is the salad is served on leaves, not on plates. You can find this salad anywhere in the Maldives or you can make it at your home. This is so easy to make. The components of the salad are:

• Crunchy banana flowers
• Fresh sweet coconut
• Exotic spices
• Maldivian chili
• Lime juice
• Onions

The coconut adds some kind of island flavor to the salad. The salad is raw so if you want something cooked in it you can caramelize the onions and then add in the salad. The texture of the banana flowers is crunchy, The texture of coconut is watery and soft, the texture of onions is raw and juicy. When you eat Boshi Mashuni some people think that this is too dry so you can add yogurt or cream on top of it. There is no comparison of this salad. The important thing about the salad is you can only use banana flowers because without banana flowers the salad is incomplete. The banana flowers are rich in fiber and nutrients.

Nutrition list

• Calories 230
• fat 5 g
• fiber 15 g
• carbohydrates 31 g

Ingredients for salad

• 500 g banana flower (crushed)
• 300 g coconut (grated)
• 2 Maldivian chili (thinly sliced)
• 2 Tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 onion (sliced)
• 1 curry leaf
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Mixing

Take a large bowl and add onion, salt, black pepper, curry leaf and Maldavian chili and mix well. now cover this with paper towel and keep this in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Now add the coconut, turmeric and banana flower and mix it. Now garnish with lime juice, some fresh coconut and fresh herbs.