Warrigal greens fritters

Warrigal greens can make a tasty fritter that can be, high in protein, fibre and minerals. They can be made without refined starch and gluten-free with a wide range of supplementary herbs and seasoning to vary the recipe and keep the tastebuds engaged.

Introduction

Recently, I noticed that massive ‘weed-like’ patches of Warrigal greens were growing abundantly all year round in a local community garden in Warragul (note the different spelling). This garden normally has a seasonal surplus of silver beet that I often use in place of silverbeet from my own garden.

For years I have grown healthy silverbeet or rainbow chard or my own vigorous cross between chards and beetroot. “The crossing happened accidentally when I tried to grow beetroot from my own ‘saved seeds’. In the massive plant bed, hardly any beetroot bulbs formed. But, wow….. the massive plants with colours of the rainbow were a great success, they volunteered like weeds in my garden and have been a family favourite for years since.”

More recently, possums have learned to join in the feast and very little is left for me to eat, so I thought that I needed an alternative abundant source of greens. Some particular Warrigal Green plants in the community garden had leaves that were five times larger than those on the ubiquitous Warrigal Greens that grow in most of our coastal reserves that I visit for camping, walking and fishing.

My family is rather reluctant to try eating weeds, so I made some tasty Warrigal Green fritters when the silverbeet ran out this summer. They were an immediate success and we have enjoyed them several times with various supplementary flavourings that can be endless. However, the Moroccan spice mix seems to be the favourite. Also, they can also be made with a low-carb batter that is gluten-free. I have also used the left-over stems of the Super Warrigal Green as cuttings to grow my own patch of this super vegetable.

For more information about Warrigal Greens (New Zealand spinach or Botany Bay greens) there is an interesting post by Beating Around The Bush and this Bush Food Article. They indicate that it is high in fibre, vitamin C and healthy antioxidants, but also in oxalates. In high concentrations, oxalates can cause calcium oxalate to accumulate in your body.

However, they go on to say that we already eat raw kale and spinach without adverse effects and these have similar levels of oxalates. Nevertheless, I think it is prudent to include a preliminary step of blanching in boiling water for a few seconds then a cold rinse, to remove some of the oxalates, especially if it is to be eaten quite often. “These steps at least ensure that the leaves are clean and bug-free.

Lastly, it is not just my family that is reluctant to eat this odd-looking plant. It seems that possibly its hairy exterior makes it unattractive to pests. “So that also bodes well for it to become a persistent beet substitute that will resist the possum attack!”The leftover Warrigal Greens stems have become my cuttings to grow my own supply, just in case some enthusiastic gardener decides to weed out these useless-looking plants.

Furthermore, Warrigal Greens should be much safer than the baby spinach that got contaminated with a nightshade plant called Thornapple. It also should be reliably more pleasant and safer to eat than the spinach with sand grits that often contaminate commercially harvested and packaged baby spinach. “I bet some of you, at workplace luncheon, have experienced those grits in delightful looking focaccia with baby spinach in the filling. Lastly, picking your own Warrigal Greens will have no environmental costs of; shipping, packaging and storage. They can be totally fresh and cost nothing.

Recipe for Warrigal Greens fritters

Note. Strict measurements are not required for this recipe.

• Wash leaves while attached to the stems.
• Using sharp scissors, cut off and collect leaves and small growth tips.
• Pile four big (metric) handfuls of leaves on a big cutting board and slice them through at about 5mm intervals using a long-bladed knife (these scary knives abound in opportunity shops).
• Cover with boiling water a simmer in a pot with a lid on for a few minutes.
• Drain off and discard the water that will have extracted a lot of oxalic acids and allow the greens to cool a little.
• In a large wok, lightly fry about 100g of bacon pieces (optional for carnivores) in a trace of olive oil (born again virgin is best).
• Slice up one or two big onions and fry till tender with the bacon.
• Tip the bacon and onion into the strained greens pot and mix all together thoroughly to break up the clumps of greens and to cool the mix a little before adding the batter ingredients.
• To the warm greens add two eggs and mix in well.
• Add chickpea flour (or other pulse flour) and mix to form a medium runny batter (Wheat flour can be used as an alternative. However, the use of pulse flour makes them high in protein, and fibre, and avoids refined wheat starch carbohydrates. They also will be gluten-free.)
• Add seasoning of your choice. I use different ones to vary the flavour, but my favourites are homemade sweet chilli sauce, Vegeta seasoning, Moroccan spice mix, garlic and lemon/garlic powder (the options are endless).

The batter should be rather thinish so that the vegetables dominate the fritter. This means that it is best to spoon the mix into a large, thick, hot and lightly oiled pan. The fritters should be made thin so that they cook through quickly. The silicone rubber spoontula (from the opportunity shop, shown below) is an excellent tool for mixing, spooning and scraping the mix from the pot for the last fritter. Lastly, on nonstick pans, it is great for safely ‘tucking in’ any batter that may have strayed from its fritter.

Another variation of the recipe is to mix the raw onion into the mixed batter and this highlights the onion flavour during cooking if that is what you like. In either case, cooking to a darker colour adds a lovely caramel flavour.

Conclusion

Enjoy the healthy eating that is good for you, your pocket and our planet. Grow your greens a step away and keep a step ahead of those damn possums.

For more of my eclectic recipes, please see Other food ideas.

Tim