Being a person who always want to have things in hand, I love the idea of stepping outside the house in order to harvest ‘food for the day’. With little else going on at this time a year, green leaves are without a doubt the vegetables of the season. The culinary world as an expat would be very dull indeed if I limited myself to the top 20 species in the world (tomatoes etc) - but despite the fact that many monetary crops are lacking at this time, nature’s pantry in Niger is full bloom - and time seems to be my greatest obstacle in trying them all out this season!
However, not long ago, in another burst of inspiration, I went out and collected a potpourri of edible leaves - both annuals and perennials!
Wanting a depth in taste, I mixed them all together and fried them with some smoked mutton and lots of garlic!
Then I added some fresh tomatoes, spices (just salt and pepper actually), then some tomato paste & water (with a stock cube) to make a nice sauce.
The end result was served with pasta and once again, there were no left-overs…
5 users commented in " Niger’s green leaves - the vegetables of the season "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackbackwow, girl, your food ALWAYS looks so yummy!!!
I think I recognize the first plant you were holding. Unfortunately, I only know its name in Filipino: “malunggay” (but a quick Googling says that it’s called “Moringa oleifera”). We usually cook the leaves in a stew with some chicken, chicken broth, and unripe papaya. The pods (if I indeed got the plant right and there are pods growing on your trees), can be split, it’s flesh and seeds taken out, and made into soup with some ground meat. The pods, however, are really fibrous. You have to keep on picking your teeth as you eat, which is why the Filipinos sometimes call it “toothpick soup” or “stick soup”. If you want to try it, you can Google the following:
Tinola (the chicken stew)
Malunggay with meat soup OR
Malunggay soup
@O: Thanks O! Must invite you over for a famine food dinner then!
@Joy: You are right, it is Moringa Oleifera in my hand. We have a couple of plants growing in the back of the garden and they’re generously producing greens. I did not know that people ate the pods - that’s great to know! Do you pick them while they are still green then, or do you wait until they are ripe? Must check out some Filipino recipes soon! Moringa & unripe papaya? Sounds exiting!
This looks absolutely yummy..! Thanks for sharing..:)
Wow, a lot of posts here since I last checked!
I tried to look for an answer to your moringa pod question, but I couldn’t find and answer online. Guess I’ll have to ask my mom and I’ll tell you later. Or you could try when you’re back.
In this link, the guy refers to a book on how to cook the pods, which are described to taste like artichokes:
http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/malunggay-seed-pods-horseradish-tree-pods
Here, the book author recommended running your teeth down the length of the pod to eat it, but my mom usually takes a teaspoon and runs it down to peel the flesh away from the pod (the seeds are edible too) before cooking. They still remain fibrous after then – much like eating artichokes too.
I haven’t found it in Sweden. Yet.
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