BORAGE

(HODAN, KALDIRIK)

borage

This is yet another wild plant that I got to learn thanks to the open air market in town. I had no idea how to use this plant in the kitchen so I had to do a bit of searching on the internet. The most common recipe turns out to be a very simple one yet so efficient! My husband frequently asks me to prepare it for him and with pleasure I do.

I think the season for borage starts in late march or early april if I remember correct. I see it on the stalls in the open air markets for a while already and almost every two weeks we have it on our dinner table. The first time I bought borage was the first time in this season that it was placed on the stalls and I have to admit that cleaning seemed a bit too difficult for me. The guy behind the stall told me to cut the blue flowers and just wash it a few times. The problem was that, as it is the stem and the root of a flower that we eat, there was dark soil on them which was quite stubborn to be cleaned away. The next week when I bought it again, I saw that cleaning was somewhat easier! I think this is because in one week the plant grew bigger and they did not have to pull it out from the soil as such.

Until now, I always cleaned the blue flowers and the leaves on the stem. Last weekend in the market, an old lady told me that nothing of borage I have to throw away! According to her, the flowers are the best part of borage. I have some half a kilo in my fridge now and I’ll give it a try without removing any part of it this time and I’ll let you know!

The dish contains eggs. I add fewer eggs than the recipes I saw on the internet because we are not really big fans of eggs! I highly recommend that you consume it with strained yoghurt to which a small tooth of garlic is crushed!! Just yummy! 

Ingredients:

Half a kilo borage, cleaned

borage still needs to be washed

1 big onion, chopped

2 eggs

egg mix with salt and pepper

Salt and pepper

2 spoons of olive oil

Method

1. Pressure-cook the borage stems for 20 minutes. If they are not soft enough for you, then pressure-cook some more. Chop in small bits like 1 or 2 cm.
2. Sauté the onion in the olive oil. Add the chopped borage, and sauté till softer.
3. Mix the eggs with salt and pepper. Add to borage and mix. After 1 or 2 minutes, the eggs should be ready.

step 1

step 1

step 1, borage cooked and chopped

step 2

happy ending!! (yes, I forgot to make a pic with the plate :-)