Prepare the ice cold water and squeeze the lime juice in it
Remove the outer two purple banana flower leaves and discard
Also remove the tiny banana's that are hidden between the leaves
Usually 4 more leaves are to be removed before the leaves become creamy white. Reserve these 4 leaves to serve the salad on later
Then slice the banana flower heart perpendicular in fine slices. It should look like onion rings. After slicing several rings, immediately place these in the lime juice containing ice cold water to preserve color and keep them there until putting the salad together
Place 1 tbsp of peanut oil in a skillet, heat up and add the raw peanuts and fry at medium heat while rolling the peanuts now and then. The peanuts should be roasted, but not burned. Let cool
Remove the peel of the green mango and slice one half in thin slabs. Then cut them in fine match sticks, around 2 inches long
Peel the carrot with a peeler to remove the outer skin. Then use the peeler to cut stripes of carrot and cut these 'peels' in longitude direction with your cooks knife. Also here make them not longer than 2 inches
Clean and slice a half green bell pepper in very fine slices and cut cross wise such as making them one an a half inch long
Wash and dry (using a centrifuge) the herbs. Vietnamese mint is also known as Vietnamese coriander, rau ram (in Vietnamese), or laksa leaves and its botanical name is Persicaria odorata. It is not part of the mint family, but of the pink weeds
Crush the cooled peanuts in a mortar and pestle into rough parts, not too fine
Remove the banana flower rings from the ice cold water, squeeze them with your hands to eliminate excess water and use them right away in the salad