It is raining and the weather is upside down. It is still supposed to be summer weather with the rain not near us. But the food in my garden seems to like this little colder and rainy weather. Dandelions are popping up everywhere, wild spinach is flourishing, and everything is just looking good.

I took this opportunity to harvest some of the wonderful food sources to make myself a quick lunch, something I have been craving for a couple of weeks now. It is basically wild leaves (or anything I could find in the garden) fried with copious amounts of olive oil and coconut oil, eaten with South African porridge. I added some spices, like coriander, mustard, and cumin to add some additional flavour. It turned out so nice.

If you are not frying your leafy greens in olive oil with spices, please do try it as soon as you can. It is seriously delicious, and I would reckon healthy!

Without further ado, please come along with me as I show you how I make what I call Spiced Marogo Pap (wild leafy greens and porridge). (Marog in South Africa usually refers to wild African spinach, which is also a collective noun or word for various leafy greens such as amaranth.)

Ingredients

The dish has three main components; (i) the leafy greens part, (ii) the spices part, and (iii) the porridge part.

For the leafy greens, I used:

• Garlic chives,
• Amaranth leaves,
• Dandelion leaves,
• and Swiss chard leaves.

I also added onion, garlic, and ginger.

For the spice part, I used a couple of teaspoons of:

• Mustard powder,
• Cumin seeds,
• Smoked paprika,
• Coriander powder, and
• Fenugreek powder.

The porridge is the last ingredient. This is basically maize meal, salt, and water. Here I show my progress and method of making pap or porridge.

The best part of this porridge is the bits that "burn" to the bottom of the pot. They are crispy and so flavourful.

Method

The dish is very simple. I begin by chopping up the leaves in these fine ribbons. Roll the leaves lengthwise and cut them horizontally to make these small ribbons.

I then add oil to a cast iron pot. I love cooking with cast iron, but you can use anything. I added way too much coconut oil, but this dish is supposed to be oily! So I use oils I feel comfortable eating.

I proceeded to fry the onions, garlic, and ginger, shortly afterward adding the spices to toast in the hot oil.

Lastly, I cooked the leafy greens. They will shrink into these nice small ribbons, some of them might even get a little crispy in the hot oil. But by cooking them in this way, as with all leafy greens, they will almost completely disappear!

And that is all to it! This dish is super easy to make, and I would guess very cheap as well. You can use any leafy greens that you can find. It is a great way to add some of these necessary foods we have deemed “weeds” into our diets. I am a firm believer in doing this, eating what grows in your garden (preferably wild and seasonal).

I also added some sesame seeds, but I think any nuts would have worked so well. I am also going to add some pulled pork or beef next time with a sticky glaze sauce. I think this dish is perfect for that pairing!

I hope that you will make this dish for yourself very soon! Please do tell me if you cook something similar in your culture or in your family! I would love to read about it and share different recipes.

The recipe is my own creation albeit inspired by many different foods that I have eaten in my life. Sometimes I get weird cravings then I make these weird dishes. The photographs are also my own, taken with my iPhone. I hope that you are well, happy cooking!