Move over Avocado Toast!
It’s spring and the garden is abound with dandelions, hairy bittercress, violets, garlic mustard, wild chives and so many other beauties. I stepped into the beautiful sunshine this morning and picked some hairy bittercress and dandelion.
I made myself a delicious breakfast that could equally be lunch. It has the classic elements that embody an ayurvedic dish: salty, sweet, sour, astringent, pungent and bitter. The taste of something is so essential in ayurveda. It is the senses bringing the emotional completion alive to what you eat . . . experiment with this idea (try with things that come from the ground).
Wild Foraged Toast
Ingredients:
2 pieces rye bread
4 to 6 TBS cream cheese of any kind
2 TBS dandelion greens and flowers
2 TBS hairy bittercress
1 tsp cilantro
5-6 pieces sliced cucumber
one half sliced onion (small) and orange pepper (small)
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and black pepper to taste
Method:
Finely chop dandelion greens and hairy bittercress. Gently mix the herbs with cream cheese in a bowl. Set aside. Put a saucepan on the stove at medium heat. Add olive oil and cumin, allow to warm for 1 to 2 minutes, then add onions and peppers and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until translucent, 5 to 8 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool. Then stack your open faced sandwich: start with toasted bread, smear on the cream cheese mixture, then layer the onions and peppers, top with sliced cucumber and garnish with dandelion flowers and cilantro. Enjoy!
This is what spring awakes; the purifying and detoxification of the liver with greens especially wild dandelion. Here are your ayurvedic flavor hits:
bitter= dandelion flower, herbs, cumin
sweet= bread, cooked peppers
pungent= black pepper, onions
astringent= cucumbers, cooked peppers
sour= cream cheese
salty= salt
With much love,
Helen
