I have been telling friends about onion weed these days, everybody seems surprised (and happy) that you can eat it, especially those who gave up growing spring onions because they seem to take so long for what you get. And onion weed is free and plentiful! I kept telling everyone to use it as a spring onion without realizing that most people here use spring onions just chopped in salad, and that'a about all! So now for more suggestions for onion weed, and spring onion! After reading about the creamy onion weed pasta sauce (here) you may like check this old post as well for more images of the plant and its uses, and in the photos above there are some more things I have been cooking this week.
On the top left my nabe (pot) with simmering Yudofu, one of my favourite tofu meals for chilly evenings:
In a capable pot I put water with some dried kombu (about a large sheet broken into 3-4 pieces), and a few dried shitake mushrooms to simmer, and after 20 minutes I added some soft tofu cut into squares, salt (I have a nice Japanese unrefined salt for it) carrot sliced to look like flowers, and onion weed (bulbs, stalks and leaves cut into 'longish' pieces). I added the flower just before serving. To tell the true the tofu should be then taken out of the broth and eaten with a sauce and relishes, but as a family meal we eat the lot in bowl, broth and veggies too, except for the kombu seaweed, which I discard.
The other three photos are of chickpea flour fritters: I chopped the onion weed (the whole plant, but kept a few flowers for decoration) plus I added some finely chopped spinach, chickpea flour, salt, water and a drizzle of olive oil. When the batter was ready I remember that I have lots of pitted black olives to use, so I chopped up a few and added those too. I fried the lot and the fritters were incredibly tasty! I will make them again, in the next few days, they are incredibly easy and the kids loved them.
These meals are vegan and gluten free.
And for today press news, Arantxa and I are in the Spring edition of Parenting Magazine, and there are three recipes from the book Party Food for Girls too. Have a peek next time you are in the supermarket or newsagent.
Ciao
A.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Best way to use them with chickpea flour, well done! And my compliments for the article!
ReplyDeleteGrazie Yari, e lo yudofu l'hai mai mangiato in Giappone?
ReplyDeleteè un'idea golosissima che belle frittelline e con la farina di ceci un'insolito abbinamento se non sbaglio anche gluten free :-) buon w.e.
ReplyDeleteSi si Ely, gluten free e niente uova o latticini :-)
ReplyDeleteNabe is one of my favorites in winter, and negi is always in our nabe! Thanks for the post! Now I cant wait for winter!!!
ReplyDeletemi sono persa tante tue ricette e me le sono viste tutte insieme! queste frittelle sono davvero buone... ne addenterei volentieri una a merenda!
ReplyDeleteps
questa estate ho preparato la tua torta di cioccolato e fichi per bel 3 volte! è stata un successo!
Eccome se ne ho mangiato! Buonissimo! Ne avevo scritto anche tempo fa: http://cucchiaiodilegno.it/2010/05/25/seigenin/
ReplyDeleteuaoooo....molto molto interessante da provare sicuramente...non l'ho mai provato ma se lo trovo ci provo....complimenti per l'articolo
ReplyDeleteWow Giovanna, sono onorata :-).
ReplyDeleteGnam,gnam ...
ReplyDeleteI have used onion weed too! http://bunnyeatsdesign.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/onion-weed-dumplings/
ReplyDeleteWe have loads growing in the backyard now. I guess it's time to give it a little cull. I didn't use the plant all the way to the bottom last time, just the green part, but I'm going to give the more solid white base a go too. I prefer that part on a spring onion, so it makes sense.
Oll Bunny, I'll come and have a look :-)!
ReplyDeleteYour nabe/yudofu looks like an art. So pretty! I wish we have that issue of Parenting!
ReplyDeleteGeee Nami, thanks for the compliments on my nabe :-)
ReplyDelete