Presenting the 14 permaveggies used in tonight’s Indian dal!
last minute addition was this moss-leaved dandelion
Moss-leaved dandelion
Moss-leaved dandichokes, self-blanched as they were under the soil surface!
Here are the ingredients: Around the outside: Blanched sea kale / strandkål (Crambe maritima) Stinging nettle / brennesle (Urtica dioica) Top left and anti-clockwise: Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde (Hablitzia tamnoides) Hedge garlic / løkurt (Alliaria petiolata) Cow parsnip (Heracleum lanatum) Day lily / daglije (Hemerocallis shoots) Common wintercress / vinterkarse (Barbarea vulgaris) Giant bellflower / storklokke (Campanula latifolia) Blanched lovage / løpstikke (Levisticum officinale) Ground elder / skvallerkål (Aegopodium podograria) Victory onion / seiersløk from the Lofoten Islands in Norway (Allium victorialis) In the middle: Great waterleaf (Hydrophyllum appendiculatum) grows well in my garden and self-sows. It’s natural habitat is damp calcareous woodlands in Eastern North America. Patience dock / hagesyre (Rumex patientia) Afterthought: Moss-leaved dandelion / mosebladet løvetann (Taraxacum sublaciniosum “Delikatess”) – one entire leaf rosette with dandichokes and top of the roots)
Pakora or bhaji is a popular snack in Indian and surrounding countries. Growing up in the UK, vegetarian Indian food has always been part of my diet since I was a student. It is basically various vegetables dipped into a batter made from gram (chick pea) flour and stir-fried. It would be fun to use broad bean flour as we can’t grow chick peas here. The flour was mixed with water, salt and pepper, chili, cumin and coriander until you get a batter with the consistency of cream.
The pictures show the 15 perennials I used (2 types of dandelion) and the final delicious and simple veggie dinner served with sour cream (or yoghurt), Most of the plants are forest garden species.
These are Aralia elata (devil’s walking stick / fandens spaserstokk) young leaves which I had forced inside (I’d cut the tree down to stilmulate new shoots from the root as all the young shoots were too high to reach. More in my book.
From the top left and clockwise: Allium victorialis, dandelions, Rumex acetosa, Hemerocallis shoot, Hablitzia (stjernemelde), ground elder (skvallerkål), Primula elatior (flower stems), garlic, nettle and (bottom left) Campanula latifolia)
Dandlions with a little of the root
Aralia paradoxum, Aralia elata, Myrrhis odorata, and bulb onions
Campanula, garlic, Primula, nettle and Aegopodium
Allium victorialis, Aegopodium (ground elder) and Hemerocallis (day lily)
Ready to eat pakora: Top and clockwise – Allium victorialis, Aralia elata, ground elder and Campanula mixed, dandelion (bottom), and bulb onion!
This album was first published on FB in June 2012, now “regurgitated” here:
“What for dinner? “Burdock flower stalk, nettle and the onion that nods curry” sounds interesting, so why not. So it was to be… I had completely missed this amazing vegetable and this experiment was prompted by foraging author Leda Meredith waxing eloquent about it a few days ago, so thanks to her. How did I miss it? Well, Cornucopia II doesn’t mention this part being eaten, just the leaf stalks – I’d tried them and they were fiddly to peel and bitter. The flower stalks were easy to prepare and once peeled had an excellent sweet crunchy taste with no bitterness.”
(https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151007155680860.476401.655215859&type=1&l=b287a87f09)
A pile of nettles (brennesle) and Burdock (borre) flower stalks
Burdock (borre) flower stalks
Peeled burdock (borre) flower stalks – the outside layer is fibrous and bitter, but the inside has a pleasant sweet crunchy taste that could be used in salads.
Peeled burdock (borre) flower stalks with Allium cernuum (Nodding Onion/Praerie-løk), easy to grow and excellent cooked and in salads at this time of year with flower buds.
Peeled and chopped burdock (borre) flower stalks are delicious raw – this really must be one of the best vegetables ever!
Stir fried Nodding Onion with Indian spices
…add the burdock which maintains an excellent flavour after cooking with spices…
Discarded burdock (borre) leaves are great slug traps – I’d noticed that slugs are very keen on the leaves and they hide underneath the large leaves
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden