Wild Dandelion Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing 蒲公英沙律

Dandelion is coming back. While many people may not like to see these popping yellow flowers, my husband and I are very happy to welcome them back with open arms. We miss the flavour. The mildly bitter leaves with the sweet balsamic vinaigrette. And the bright yellow flower petals that are so delicious in cookies. We just never have enough of dandelion.

INGREDIENTS:

1-2 cups Dandelion Leaves

3 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 tablespoon Honey

DIRECTION:

1. Rinse the dandelion; drain well.

2. Whisk together balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and honey. Add dandelion leaves; gently mix together. Serve immediately.

Eggplant Salad with Dandelion Green

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups Dandelion Leaves, rinsed, cut to bite size

1 Chinese Eggplant, cut into 1 cm rounds

1 Avocado, pitted and cut into large chunks

10 Dried Dates, pitted

15 gram Feta Cheese

1 handful Hump Seeds (optional)

1 handful Pumpkin Seeds, toasted

Vegetable Oil (for frying)

DRESSING:

3 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

2 Olive Oil

1 tablespoon Agave Syrup

Salt and Pepper

DIRECTION:

1. Heat up 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil on a non-stick pan.  Add eggplants; fry them over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Flip them over and fry for another 5 minutes.  When the eggplants start to give in, press it gently with a spatula to release their juice and allow the juice to evaporate.  Transfer the eggplant to a dish.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add all salad ingredients and dressing.  Toss it gently with clean hands until well combined.  Serve immediately.

Dandelion Fritter | 酥炸蒲公英花蕾

Now it’s the time to savor the bright yellow dandelion heads

After days of heavy rain, we finally got a sunny day. Seas of dandelions were blooming everywhere. I am a dandelion addict. Of course I immediately thought of many ways to enjoy these freshly sprouted beauties. 

Dandelions can be prepared savory or sweet. Basically, anything you want to have a hint of dandelions, then you can add a handful of them. However, the different parts of the dandelion have the best flavour during different periods.

Roots: They are best to be harvested in early spring before the flowers bloom, or in late fall before the ground freezes. The roots store the most nutrition in these periods of the year. The roots can be ground into powder as a coffee substitute.

Buds: They can be picked any time throughout the summer. Try to look for ones that are tightly closed for the maximal floral flavour. I usually pickle them and eat them like capers.

Leaves: They could be used throughout the whole season, but I only like to use the baby dandelion leaves in early spring. They are much more tender and less bitter. If you choose to use dandelion after April, try to look for those growing in the shade because sun exposure stresses the dandelions, making them taste much more bitter. Leaves can be stir fried, to make kimchi, or eaten raw as a salad.

Flowers: We only use the yellow flower heads and they make good tea. Flower petals are not bitter so they can be applied to various recipes. I use them to make quick bread, cookies, and fritters. Some people even use them to make wine. I haven’t yet tried the wine recipe since my husband and I don’t drink much. But I imagine making a batch of it and giving it to friends as a gift would be really cool.

Dandelion Fritter

Today let’s focus on fritter. Making fritter isn’t much of a secret. All it requires is good consistency of the batter. If you want to eat the dandelion flowers but not the clumps of oily flour bread, you need to be easy on the flour. The measurement in the recipe below is just a guideline. You really need to eyeball it and feel it.

Ingredients: for 8 dandelions 

8 Dandelion Flowers, with at least 3 inch stems

2 tablespoons Corn Starch

2 tablespoons Flour

1/4 cup Water

a pinch of Salt

a pinch of Black Pepper

a pinch of Smoked Paprika

3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

How to make:

1. the dandelions in a bowl of water by quickly swinging the flowers left and right a few times; dry them on a paper towel . (I always rinse my dandelions before using them. It may loose a little flavour, but I would rather be safe than sorry)

2. Whisk together the rest of the ingredients. The batter should be runny like the crepe batter. If it’s thick like pancake batter, you may want to thin it out with some water.

3. Heat up the oil over medium-high heat. Coat the flower heads with the batter. Add the flowers in the pan one by one and make sure they are not overlapping. Let them fry until golden; it’s about one minute. Serve immediately.

When enjoying them, just pick up the stem as if it were a toothpick and eat up the yellow flower part. They are great for party food.


If you have leftover flower heads, you can use the flower petals to make tea.





Dandelion Tea

Ingredients:
8-10 Dandelion Flower Heads, petals only
Hot Water


How to make:
1. Rinse the dandelion flower heads.  Peel off and discard any green parts.

2. Put the yellow petals in a tea cup.  Pour the hot water over it and allow it to steep for 8 minutes before serving.  Add honey or other sweetener if you want.

Dandelion Flower Cookies and Pickled Buds｜蒲公英曲奇｜醃蒲公英花蕾

These bright yellow flowers are not weeds. They are food.

Starting from late spring, hundreds of thousands of bright yellow dandelions have popped up from road sides, parks, and gardens, after their look-alike cat’s ears subside.

It is the prime time to forage the dandelion buds and flowers for recipes.

Two weeks ago, I mentioned dandelion cookies to my five-year-old son. He didn’t know what they were, but he was attracted to the sound of cookies. “Mommy, if you make them, I will eat them all!” he said. So I started to look for some good dandelion for this recipe.

In the city, it may be easy to see dandelions everywhere, but it can be a challenge to look for a batch of clean ones. I need to check the environment carefully, making sure there would be no risk of car exhaust, litter, or animal droppings before getting my hands on the plants. Unfortunately, where I live is a very popular dog walking path and I don’t dare to pick any dandelions around here to feed my family, no matter how beautiful they look.

So I decided to walk around the city to look for a patch of clean dandelion. I know it may sound crazy to many people (even to my husband).  But a patch of healthy and clean dandelions means that we will be less likely to swallow chemicals or other unpleasant substances into our stomachs.

People often wonder why I treasure dandelions so much, while others just want to kill these plants with all they can. Then, it is because I know these bright yellow spring plants are food — a type of highly nutritious food. All parts of a dandelion, from the flower to the root are edible, and they are rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, iron, and trace minerals. When they are lying everywhere around me, I feel guilty not to use them and just let them to fade away with the season.

So when my In-laws invited us over for a dinner yesterday, I was quite excited. First, it was because I always enjoyed their company; second, it was because I could get some dandelions in their healthy lawn.

To make about 30 dandelion cookies, I used about 1/4 cup of dandelion petals. Since the green part of the dandelion heads taste slightly bitter, I omitted them in my recipe here.

Dandelion Cookies

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Dandelion Petals

1/3 cup Butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups Flour, sifted

1/3 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

a pinch of Salt

How to make:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 360F.

2. Quickly rinse the flower heads in the water to remove any dirt or debris; dry them on paper towel.

3. Separate the yellow petals from the green parts. We will only use the petals for this recipe.

4. To make the dough, mix the butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs and salt; continuously mix it until it’s incorporated.

5. Add in flour, 1/3 at a time. Mix it and form it into a dough. The texture of the dough should resemble your earlobes. Adjust the texture with extra flour or water if needed. Add dandelion petals and mix well.

6. Roll the dough into small balls and lay them on baking tray. Press the dough down with a folk to create the pattern. Bake them in the oven for 10 minutes.

These dandelion cookies are rich in egg flavour with a slight hint of dandelion. They are good pair with black tea.

Dandelion buds

Dandelion buds are known good for pickling and be eaten as capers. When choosing the buds, find those are tightly closed and bright green because they contain the most floral flavour.

Pickled Dandelion Buds

Ingredients:

Dandelion buds, rinsed

1 cup Hot Water

2 tablespoons White Vinegar

2 teaspoons Sugar

1 Bay Leaf

How to make:

1. Combine together the water, vinegar, and sugar; stir it until it’s dissolved.

2. Add bay leaf and dandelion buds. Chill it in the fridge for two days before using.

Dandelions are finally back (with dandelion recipes) ｜ 蒲公英咖啡。蒲公英醃菜

 I’ve been waiting for dandelions to come back since the middle of last winter. The whole plant is delicious, but it was the roots I was longing for. Dandelion roots can be used to make tea that is nutritious and cafferine-free.

Dandelions start coming up around mid April and flower until early summer, but the best time to harvest the roots is in April when the young leaves are just starting to develop, before the plant blossoms. At that time, most of the nutrients that have been stored up for the winter are still in the plants. Finding a day after the rain to dig up the roots will lead to an easier harvesting since the soil is loosened.

At Easter, I spent nearly two hours in my in-law’s garden to dig out these “teasures” and they were both very happy that I cleaned up their “weeds”.

After separating the roots and the leaves, I cleaned them under running water a few times and made sure there was no dirt, debris, or other plants like moss mixed inside them.

      To make the tea is very simple:

1. 1. Cut the roots into pea size. Place them on parchment paper. Roast them at 360F until they are totally dried out.
2. 2. Grind the roasted roots into finer powder with a stone grinder (which was what I used) or a food processor. Keep the powder in an air-tight container and it can keep in good condition for up to six months.
3. 3. Whenever you want to enjoy this beneficial drink, just brew it like the normal tea you would drink. My preference is 2 flat teaspoons to 1 cup of water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and then pour it into the root powder. Let it steep for about 8–10 minutes and it is ready. I like mine with a splash of milk and some sugar.

Dandelion Tea:

I also used the dandelion greens to make a kimchi dish. I used the young leaves here because they are less bitter and much more tender. For people like my family and I who have little tolerance for bitterness in food, mature dandelion leaves are just too much to handle.

Kimchi Dandelion:

Ingredients:

20 stalks Young Dandelions, green part only

2 teaspoons Salt

Seasoning:

2 teaspoons White Vinegar

1 tablespoon Sesame Oil

1 tablespoon White Sesame, toasted

¼ teaspoon Ginger, ground

1 teaspoon Red Chili Flakes

DIRECTION:

1. Combine salt and dandelion in a bowl; rib it evenly. Leave it for 2o minutes for the bitter water to come out.

2. Squeeze out as much water as you can. Then rinse the dandelion under running water. Squeeze out the excess water from the dandelion again.

3. Add the seasoning to the dandelion. Mix well and taste it. Adjust the seasoning if it is needed. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes before serving. For the best flavour, leave it in the fridge overnight before use.

I enjoy eating this kimchi with a bowl of very warm rice.