Chickweed is a mild, sweet, subtly ‘green’ and is an excellent bulk filler for dishes like weed pies, creamy green soups and for this chickweed pakoras recipe.
Winter can feel like a bleak, barren time in nature and many gardeners find slim pickings from the patch as we wait for our winter vegies to sweeten with the arrival of frosts.
A simple solution to filling the nutrient gap is to turn to foraging. Rather than curse those weeds that crop up between pavers and in dormant vegie beds, why not eat the problem instead?
Chickweed is as nutritious as it is common, and really versatile in the kitchen too.
Cooking with chickweed (Stellaria Media)
Chickweed is about as close to butter lettuce as you’ll find in the weed world: it tastes mild, sweet, subtly ‘green’ and has soft leaves. The sturdy stem mid-veins are stringy to chew, so chop them into smaller bits before eating.
Chickweed is an excellent bulk filler for dishes like pesto, weed pies, green smoothies or creamy green
soups and curries. Its delicate green leaves and starburst white flowers make beautiful garnishes.
Adding chopped chickweed to lacto-fermenting sauerkraut or to a fire cider infusion is a great way of increasing their nutritional value and your gut health.
Ingredients:
- 100g chickpea flour
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1⁄2 tsp baking powder
- 1⁄2 tsp sea salt
- 120ml water
- 50g chickweed, chopped
- 1 handful wild garlic leaves & bulbs (or 1 small onion), roughly chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Oil for shallow-frying
Method:
Combine dry ingredients, then stir while adding enough water to make a silky batter. Add the remaining ingredients (not the oil) and mix until the greens are well coated.
Heat vegetable oil in large frypan and dollop in spoonfuls of the mixture before covering. Cook until pakora bases are golden, then flip and cook the other side. Drain on a tea towel before serving immediately.
Want to know more about edible weeds?
Check out our article from Issue #28 of Pip Magazine – Wild Food: Winter Weeds, where we bring you three edible weeds and their uses in the kitchen, with some delicious recipes for you to try!
You can access this article online here as part of our digital subscription offering, or subscribe to the print version of Pip Magazine here.
