Hello! I’ve been so swamped by study lately due to the crazy commitment I’d taken. The WSET Diploma is far more challenging than I’d
Hello! I’ve been so swamped by study lately due to the crazy commitment I’d taken. The WSET Diploma is far more challenging than I’d thought, demanding a lot of my time. I hope it’ll get a bit easier as the course progresses and I get a better handle on the course frame.
After a couple of overseas trips, the realisation how far behind I was in the coursework threw me into panic for a period. While I was catching up on the course materials, May suddenly arrived, making me jittery again.
I have a lot going on in May, more travels, and the first exam is in June. So I’ve locked myself at home for the past week, trying to get as much studying as possible done. Today, I finally felt a bit of relief and thought I’d write something up here.
In between my study breaks, I still visit the weekly farmers market as it’s impossible to skip! However, these days, when I see lovely seasonal staple veggies, I have to turn away quickly to cut off the temptation for cooking them. What a dramatic change, huh?
I’m still trying to cook as much but simplifying things to save time.
No matter how busy I am, I can’t pass up the delicious artichokes, fava beans, snow peas and fresh garlic. I’ve stored away pickled artichokes and made green fig jam as usual.
I enjoy purslane quite a lot throughout the summer, either bought from the market or foraged. Especially my purslane salad recipe has been praised by MIL and hubby as the most delicious.
Purslane is such a nutritious weed packed with omega-3 fatty acid and antioxidant, and sometimes we eat it at breakfast for its tangy and peppery taste.
However, when it comes to cooking it, purslane salad is almost always made with yogurt and a bit of garlic, and I find it boring to be honest.
I’ve made several variations of my original dressing for purslane salad and I think this one has been the best.
The most important bit in the dressing is grain mustard, ginger and zahter (za’atar)! I’ve tried it with Dijon mustard, and with and without za’atar, but the winner is always the one with za’atar, which goes by ‘breakfast za’atar‘.
To peel or not to peel fava beans, it’s up to you. I prefer the bright green colour of the peeled ones and also, they’re easier to digest creating less of the gas problem. Plus, sesame is believed to reduce flatulence so, go figure!
Fava beans can be boiled with the skin on for a minute or less, and then peeled, or can be quickly pan-fried for crunchiness. The smell of fava beans while boiling is distinctive; one loves or hates it. For me, it’s the scent of my childhood home; lots of fermented soy, that it!
Hope you will enjoy this super healthy weed with different flavours this summer!
Purslane Salad with Fava Beans and Za’atar
Ingredients
half bunch of purslane
1 cup fresh fava beans, blanched
fresh herbs such as wild thyme, mint
1 inch piece of ginger
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp grain mustard
lemon juice
1 Tbsp pomegranate molasse
1 Tbsp Za’atar
extra virgin olive oil
Steps:
1. Wash the purslane and snap off the leaf-heads and some leaves with small stems, and add into a salad bowl along with blanched fava beans and fresh herbs if using.
2. Make the dressing: Crush ginger, garlic and grain mustard into paste in a mortar and add pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, and olive oil and mix well.
3. Pour the dressing into the salad bowl and toss it well, and top it off with the za’atar powder.
*Variations: You can use other kinds of beans or even artichoke and oyster mushrooms in place of fava beans.
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