curry chicken and glutinous rice in banana leaf

I have 2 groves of banana plants in my property. When I first bought the house I was so surprised to see a grove of banana plant in the backyard. I had no idea that it is possible for banana plant to survive in mild Pacific Northwest. In the first winter everything above wilted from winter freeze. The blustery weather in late fall also tends to batter the leaves.

I would learn that despite how sad the plants look, new shoots would spout each spring, and the new growths of the year would reach great height by the end of the summer. I took some small shoots together with enough rhizome and planted a grove in the front yard.
leaves battered by the blustery autumn storms

I get a lot of surprised remarks from passerbys and neighbours alike. A few weeks ago I gave away a few shoots to a passerby so he and his wife too can have banana plants in their yard. They were very happy.
This year the grove in the backyard reaches 12 feet. The grove in the front yard is planted in very hard packed clay soil and  reaches 8 feet.
what they looked in auguest

I have been wanting to use the leaves to prepare food for years but just couldn't get around to find a recipe. Yesterday I finally did. Inspired by a Thai blog of chicken Rice Curry With Coconut ( Koa Mook Gai ) I made curry chicken and glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaf.

While I knew many Southeast Asian countries uses banana leaves to wrap rice and meat that is very similar to Chinese zongzi 粽子 I just didn't know how to wrap with banana leaves. Chinese zongzi 粽子use either very large bamboo leaves (multiple leaves) or lotus leaf (one leaf). While wrapping glutinous rice in leaves and steamed is found in Asian cooking, the Mexican tamales are incredibly similar.

I did a bit of web search and still the methods I found was not too satisfactory. I decided to waste no time but to just forge ahead using my intuitions. The truth is before I attempt this dish I didn't how to wrap the Chinese zongzi 粽子 with bamboo leaves. For most cooking I found that it is easier to adapt a just-do-it and learn from the process.

I didn't follow any recipe. I just based the ingredients loosely as one may prepare a Thai chicken curry. I was going to use yellow curry powder but in the last minute I decided to use red curry paste (from Thailand) that I have a big tub in the refrigerator.

I steamed a small portion (may be 2 cups) of glutinous rice. I prepared the chickens separately. The chicken pieces are first browned in oil with just salt, fish sauce, and pepper. I then simmer them with sauteed onion, Korean twister peppers and coconut cream but not cook them till the meat is tender. I wanted the meat to further cooked with the rice in the banana leaf.
browned chicken pieces

sauteed onion and pepper

mixed together and add coconut cream and simmer a bit

half-cooked glutinous rice in the bowl

Wrapping was difficult because the banana leaves was quite stiff. I tried different ways of tying the package but none are too satisfactory. I ripped a couple pieces of leaves in the process but eventually I have 3 packages that I could stream. I just estimated 20 minutes of steaming would be a good start.
i had no idea what i was doing

what a hack - three different look all as bad

 in goes into the steamer for 20 minutes

 this is the result of first attempt - looks terrible

 but tastes wonderful inside

It is amazingly delicious and aromatic. The fragrance of the banana leave infuses the rice and smells very similar to the familiar Chinese zongzi 粽子. In the past I would be very apprehensive with using curry and coconut in this dish and wanting just to stick close to the Chinese recipes. In recent year I grew to like and wanting to learn more about Thai cuisine. To me Thai food opened my eyes of the possibility of be more adventurous. Thai cuisine is the quintessential fusion of Chinese food.

Last night I did a bit more searching on the web and I found this wonderful blog with a better method of wrapping. I also learnt that by passing the leaves on the gas burner to wilt them would make them soft and easy for wrapping. I wanted to try starting with soaked raw glutinous rice instead of half cooked ones - as how is done with Chinese zongzi 粽子.
raw (soaked) glutinous rice in the middle

assembling the ingredients on a piece of wilted leaf

after wilting on the burner the leave is much more pliable

the finished package is more presentable

with raw rice i steam it for 25 minutes

getting better with wrapping - the size is limited by the size of the banana leaves