purslane

I can't tell if it's cos mega food just don't seem that exciting since the mini food or because my fridge is broken but lately I'm lacking cooking inspiration. I am however, very excited about eating from the garden and that's gonna be my inspiration reviver I think.

This little would-be weed is all over my garden. Then I noticed it was also in a lot of the gardens at work, at the Flemington Community Gardens. It's mainly gardeners from the Horn of Africa who grow it and they call it "regla". At least the Tigrinya speakers do.

My co-worker informed me it was "purslane". A ha! I'd been reading about purslane in Mexican (verdolagas) and Lebanese cookbooks but had no idea where to get it. I love that it's all over my vegie patch and coming up in the cracks of the drive-way. Even colonised this empty oil tin planter.

Yesterday one of the gardeners brought a big stack of injera down to the gardens along with a tasty green stew/sauce. This was regla I was told. To be honest it could have been any green, it was so finely minced but it sure was good. I think the mucilaginous quality of the purslane did make it deliciously thick.

So check your weeds and send me your favourite purslane recipes.