It’s officially spring time in southern California! Spring time brings sunnier, longer days, new growth in flowers and plants, regeneration and new beginnings. To celebrate, I decided to make something fresh for the season – dandelion greens!
In Chinese herbal medicine, dandelion (Pu Gong Ying) is considered bitter, sweet and cold, and enters the Liver and Stomach to clear heat toxicity and resolve dampness. It can treat skin infections, breast abscess or mastitis, and promotes urination to treat painful, dark scanty urination. In other traditional medicines, dandelion is similarly used as a Liver cleansing herb. The bitter flavor helps to clear stagnation and cool heat, and its property of entering the Liver makes it a good choice for supporting Liver function and removing liver stagnation.
Using the Five Element system to understand the changing of the seasons, the Spring season is associated with the Wood element. The Wood element is also associated with the Liver and Gallbladder, tendons and sinews, eyes, wind, and the color green. Because of dandelion’s benefit to the Liver, it is a good choice to eat in the spring time. In general, spring time is a good time for eating raw or lightly cooked foods, using quick high temperature sautéing or light steaming methods.
Bitter can be an overlooked and underused flavor in cooking these days, but I encourage you to try it. I didn’t like bitter melon as a kid (recipe coming soon!) but in the last few years as an adult, I’ve found I like it a lot more – maybe I have more internal heat to clear from my system!
**Cautions: “Persons who are deficient, cold, weak, thin, nervous, and dry should limit bitter food intake” (Pitchford 314).
INGREDIENTS
1 medium bunch dandelion greens, chopped into medium-large chunks (they’ll shrink when cooked)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons sesame oil
Soy sauce, to taste
Other optional condiments: black pepper, hot sauce, black vinegar, and/or furikake (a Japanese seasoning mixture of seaweed, sesame seeds and fish flakes)
DIRECTIONS
**The first step to mellow out the bitter taste of the greens is optional – feel free to be hardcore and skip this if you want!
Bring a medium soup pot of water up to a boil. When water is boiling, add chopped dandelion greens and let boil for about 5 minutes to take some of the bitterness out of the greens. Drain water out and set greens aside.
Preheat wok or large skillet on stove to medium-high. Add sesame oil to the pan. Add garlic and onion and stir fry, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute. Add dandelion greens and continue to stir fry for about 5 more minutes, or until greens have a deep green color and are cooked through, but still have a little crunch to them when tasted.
Remove from heat. Add pepper and soy sauce to taste.
References
Bensky, D., Clavey, S., Stoger, E., & Gamble, A. (2004). Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd Edition. Seattle, WA: Eastland Press, Inc.
Pitchford, Paul. (2002). Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition, 3rd Edition. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Wang, Y., Sheir, W., & Ono, M. (2010). Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen: Recipes from the East for Health, Healing, and Long Life. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.