I am starting to become very fond of purslane. As I explained in an earlier entry,
purslane is a common garden weed with leaves, stems, and seeds that can be eaten raw or cooked. The plant is succulent and the larger stems have a lemony flavor. On my final visit to my sister in New Hampshire a little over a week ago I weeded enough purslane out of her garden to fill a large frying pan for my second round of experimentation with this wild edible.
I decided to make two Asian-style dishes to serve my mom and I for lunch along with some leftover rice: one using the purslane and the other with the remainder of the sea beans--aka slender glasswort--that I collected along the salt pond in Rhode Island last week.
I prepared the sea beans using a bastardized Japanese seaweed salad recipe I found online, with the intention of serving them cold. This involved mixing rice vinegar, sugar, finely chopped pink ginger, a little soy sauce, and the sea beans. Although the dish looked delicious, the sea beans were too salty for my taste. Perhaps I would have had better results had I allowed the mixture time to marinate. Instead, I tried frying the whole thing up with a little sesame oil--and then I overcooked it! The liquid went out of the sea beans, so instead of retaining their succulence, they ended up having the consistency of some sort of fried herb. They also turned a brownish color which was far less appetizing in appearance than the translucent bright green color of the uncooked sea beans.
Undeterred, I turned to the purslane, which I prepared much the same way as I did the first time, with the exception that I included the larger stems and I substituted sesame oil for olive oil. I fried the purslane for about 10 minutes with a touch of soy sauce and then entreated my mother to give it a try. Frankly, mom thought the purslane was a little bitter. Although I disagree that it was "bitter," I do think the lemony taste was stronger than the first time I prepared the plant for her, probably due to my use of the larger stems.
Mom also tried the sea beans and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that she liked the flavor very much. We ended up mixing the sea beans and the purslane together with the rice, a combination that we both found to be delectable--the sweetness of the sea beans taking the edge off the lemony taste of the purslane, and resulting in what my mom called "a perfect blend of sweet and sour," or something like that.
It has been a rocky road getting to this point, but I am quite pleased to announce that the sea bean and purslane combo represents the first time my mom gave herself over completely to a wild edible meal, demonstrating her growing trust in my identification and foraging skills and finishing her plate in its entirety!
I love purslane... get it at the farmer's market out here. i have to say,though, that the final dish looks a lot like worm salad. :) hope you are enjoying your time with the family.