Monday, 7 May 2012

Recipes from the Wild Food Cafe...

Aha! I now have photos and recipe sheets saved from the Wild Food Cafe, and I'm going to share them here for all to enjoy.

The guiding principle behind Wild Food Cafe is to make foraged food easily accessible, from begining to end. So the recipe below uses nettles - supposedly one of the first plants that children learn to identify across the temperate world (and for good reason!)

Since we all know what a nettle looks like, we can all find them. But then you need to know how to pick them without getting stung! It turns out it's easy - just wear a pair of gloves. Your winter gloves will do, or a pair of leather driving gloves... rubber 'marigolds'... whatever you have available! If you're gentle, you can gently pluck out the tips of the plants without getting stung. Give it a try! :)

Nettles are available through most of the year, but they're best in the springtime when they're really tender, with an almost fruity aroma. If you're picking later in the year, only take the young, highest tips of the plant. The older leaves lower down are coarse, and they contain a chemical that can exacerbate arthritis - so it's best to avoid them.

So now you know how to pick them, here's a recipe for Wild Nettle Pakora...

OVEN-BAKED WILD NETTLE PAKORA

1 cup of gram (chickpea) flour
Half-teaspoon of baking powder
Generous tablespoon of curry powder and spices, to taste – try cumin, coriander, turmeric etc.

1 cup peanuts (or any crunchy, chunky veg such as cauliflower or grated carrot)
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup or more of chopped, steamed nettles
To steam the nettles, put them with a spoonful of boiling water into a pan with a tight-fitting lid. The nettles will quickly wilt, becoming dark green and soft. They will be ready within a minute or two - they can no longer sting you, and they are ready to eat!

Now combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add one cup of cold water, to form a paste. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Place dollops of mixture onto generously oiled and pre-heated baking trays or pudding tins. The dollops should hold their own shape - you may need to adjust the consistency using a little more gram flour or water!
Drizzle with a little more oil before baking for a crisp, golden finish. Bake in a moderate oven until risen and well browned – perhaps 20-30mins.

Serve hot or cold with a yoghurt and mint dip, or sweet chilli sauce.
Because they're oven-baked, these pakora are really healthy - although you can also deep-fry them if you're feeling naughty! They're packed full of protein and essential nutrients - and they're vegan, too.



Now you know how to make steamed nettles, you can add them into any recipe where you would use leaves like spinach. How about adding nettles to pasta sauce, curry, or a vegetable stew?

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