The spring has arrived and this usually brings an influx of hungry guests to the countryside. Sure, usually it will be grilled meat and bread and some salad as a side, but sometimes the weather is too bad to get out that grill and you have also forgotten to stock up your fridge.
What then? Lucky for you, you still have copious amounts of ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria L. Or just plain naat in Estonian) growing in the garden and can whip out a crispy appetizer which I would describe as a love child of potato chips, omelette and fried fish – all in the form of that unassuming weed.
What you need:
– handful of ground elder leaves – as much as you need
– 1 egg
– 2 tablespoons of potato starch
– tablespoon of ice cold water
– pinch of salt
– 1-2 teaspoons of oil
How to make:
All in all, the process takes maybe 5 minutes. Pick the ground elder in your garden or trusted forest – it grows everywhere. The younger the leaves, the better – old large leaves might leave a bitter aftertaste. First, wash your ground elder and sprinkle with a little salt, set aside. In a small bowl mix the egg, a bit of salt and cold water, then add the potato starch and mix until the clumps are gone. How thick or runny you want the batter, is up to you – but it should be thick enough so that the leaves get somewhat coated with it.
Heat the oil in a pan – the oil should be constantly hot enough that it starts to sizzle when you throw a water drop on it, otherwise you won’t get the crispy result.
Now put some of the leaves into the batter, coat them well and spread the leaves individually in the pan. Fry them 30 seconds on one side, then repeat with other side, until the batter gets that golden and crispy hue. Then take them out of the pan and put them on a paper towel for a second to get some of the extra grease out of them. Serve hot.
How much does it cost?
Egg is around 30 cents, the potato starch comes maybe up to -5-10 cents soaking wet, a tablespoon of oil would be the same. Ground elder is just a weed that grows free everywhere – so here you are serving your guests a large platter of a hot crispy snack which cost you around 50 cents.
What is ground elder?
If you have a garden in Estonia, then you have the naat or ground elder everywhere. It is considered largely as a nuisance weed at worst or animal feed at best. Still, it is edible and basically a free food source. Some people like to eat it raw in salads, but the taste in raw form is not considered good by any stretch of imagination by most: grassy, earthy, slightly bitter and with the distinct air of „yup, this is a weed“. However, once fried, boiled or otherwise cooked, it loses all that lingering bitterness and you can use it, as you would, say, use spinach.
Ground weed lovers maintain, that this weed is packed with iron, magnesium and vitamin C, has a herby taste, helps with digestion and cleanses the body and whatnot.
