Backyard Grazing Recipes - Purslane

In Sydney for the last month, and for the coming month or two, if you have a backyard, you are almost sure to have wild purslane coming up. (See image). Most of us treat it as a weed, but you can treat it as a vegetable and there are good reasons for doing so.

Purslane is and annual succulent of the Portulacaceae family, Portulaca oleracea. It's commonly called pigweed, or hogweed, or, more fanciliy, verdolaga. It has a very wide distribution across North Africa, the Middle East, South and South East Asia and Australasia.
All parts of it are edible - stems. leaves, flowers. It has a slight soury saltiness which makes it perfect for salads, stir-frys, soups and stews. Aboriginal Australians made flat cakes from the ground seeds.

But why eat it? Well, here's what Wikipedia has to say about it. Purslane contains more omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid in particular, than any other leafy vegetable plant. Simopoulos states that Purslane has 0.01 mg/g of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). This is an extraordinary amount of EPA for land based vegetable sources. EPA is an Omega-3 fatty acid normally found mostly in fish, some algae and flax seeds. It also contains vitamins (mainly vitamin A, vitamin C, and some vitamin B and carotenoids), as well as dietary minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron. Also present are two types of betalain alkaloid pigments, the reddish betacyanins (visible in the coloration of the stems) and the yellow betaxanthins (noticeable in the flowers and in the slight yellowish cast of the leaves). Both of these pigment types are potent antioxidants and have been found to have antimutagenic properties in laboratory studies.When stressed by low availability of water, purslane, which has evolved in hot and dry environments, switches to photosynthesis using Crassulacean acid metabolism (the CAM pathway): at night its leaves trap carbon dioxide, which is converted into malic acid (the souring principle of apples), and in the day, the malic acid is converted into glucose. When harvested in the early morning, the leaves have 10 times the malic acid content as when harvested in the late afternoon, and thus have a significantly more tangy taste.

So there! Feel like you have been missing out on something, dontcha! I've been having a great time creating recipes with it and here's what I've come up with so far.

Scrambled Eggs and Backyard Greens

1 bunch dandelion leaves
1 good handful of the tips and tender leaves of purslane
4 eggs
a few cherry tomatoes left whole
olive oil
salt and pepper
grated manchego cheese (or any mildly sharp cheese - parmesan would work well)

Wash the dandelion and purslane leaves to remove any grit, aeroplane fuel, dog wee, grit, twigs etc. Spin them dry in a salad spinner or leave them to drain well. When dry, chop the dandelion leaves roughly.

Beat the eggs and set aside.

Heat the olive oil, add the dandelion leaves and purslane and saute for a minute or two till the dandelion leaves have wilted and coloured a little.

Add the tomatoes and keep sauteing till they soften.

Pour in the beaten eggs, add salt and pepper (I used a herb and chili salt for added zing). Leave for a minute, then start mixing the eggs, leaves and tomatoes as the egg sets.

When the egg is still just wet, take the pan off the fire and stir in the grated cheese.

It's ready to serve up.

Purslane Mallung
Mallungs are Sri Lankan dishes of shredded greens boiled or fried up with a light mix of spices and ground coconut. They are an accompaniment to a rice and curry meal, or can be eaten on their own with rice, and they make great sandwiches too. You can eat them hot or cold.

250g purslane chopped fine (take the tender stems and leaves only, the thicker red stems of the plant are too woody)
1 tbsp onion or shallot chopped fine
1 dry red chili chopped fine
1 sprig curry leaves chopped fine
a little water
1/2 tsp black mustard seed freshly ground
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
pinch of salt
2 tbsp grated coconut (you can buy this in frozen packets from which you can break off as much as you need - DO NOT use dessicated coconut)

If using frozen coconut, make sure you have defrosted it before you begin the next steps.

Wash the purslane well before chopping it. You want it really well chopped so you may like to use the chopping blade in an electric mixer or a mezzaluna if you don't fancy using a standard cook's knife.

Put the chopped purslane, chili, curry leaves and a little water into a saucepan. You really just want enough water to prevent the purslane leaves from burning when you first put them on the stove. Put a lid on the saucepan and turn the flame low and/or use a diffusion mat so the purslane steams.

After a 4 - 5 minutes, take the lid off the pan and let the steam escape as the purslane cooks down.

Add the ground mustard, salt and turmeric and stir through. Leave for 2 - 3 minutes.

Add the grated coconut and mix through.

Check how much moisture there is in the pan. You want to try and get this dish as dry-wet as you can, that is, you don't want it to burn or desiccate, but you don't want there to be a lot of juice either.


Purslane Sambol
150g purslane chopped fine
1 green chili chopped fine
1 tbsp onion or shallot chopped fine
1 tsp powderd maldive fish (you can leave this out, but you are doing yourself and the dish a dis-service - prawn powder is a good substitute but not blachan)
1/2 lime juiced
pinch of salt
2 tbsp grated coconut (you can buy this in frozen packets from which you can break off as much as you need - DO NOT use dessicated coconut)

If using frozen coconut, make sure you have defrosted it before you begin the next steps.

Mix together all the ingredients - how simple is that!