Talinum Dip

In one of my previous posts, I talked about talinum (Talinum fruticosum). This herbaceous, succulent plant grows abundantly in the area where I take my early morning walks and just the other day I picked a big bunch. The plant has nice tiny pink-purple flowers and looks lovely in a flower vase. Then my daughter found this recipe for a dip that calls for spinach and I thought, why not use the talinum instead of spinach? After all talinum is also known as Philippine spinach.

Since the recipe uses frozen chopped spinach, I blanched the talinum leaves first, then shocked the leaves in iced water. After thoroughly draining and squeezing out the excess water, I had my spinach substitute.

Here’s the modified recipe. Blend together 2 cups yogurt (I used my home-made low-fat yogurt), 1 packet of soup mix (your choice of flavor; you can also use “ginisa” mix), ½ cup chopped spring onions, a few cloves of garlic and about 1 ½ - 2 cups of chopped talinum leaves (previously blanched, and thoroughly drained). Season with salt and pepper to taste. You may add grated cheese for added flavor. Refrigerate for a while to allow the flavors to come together.

The dip goes well with corn chips, slightly toasted tortillas or pita bread, or vegetable sticks.

Talinum salad

Imagine if all plants were edible; maybe then no one would go hungry. I was recently introduced to a plant that grows freely around the area where I live and whose leaves are edible. The plant is called Talinum which is a genus of herbaceous succulent plants. Talinum fruticosum grows widely in tropical regions as a leaf vegetable. It can also be grown as an ornamental plant because of its foliage and tiny pink/purple flowers. As a leaf vegetable, T. fruticosum is rich in vitamins (including vitamins A and C) and minerals (such as iron and calcium). I prepare the Talinum leaves as a salad; sometimes I use it in sandwiches in place of lettuce. Pictured here is a simple salad made from Talinum leaves and carrots, topped with some chunks of low-fat cheese and vinaigrette dressing. A slice of bread (here, a mini ciabatta) completes a simple and healthy lunch or dinner. You can add more of your choice ingredients to the salad (for example, mango slices, almonds, grapes, dates, etc).