$5 Friday: Suitcase potatoes

I arrived back home in Canberra just after a whirlwind tour of Taiwan. What fun! I ate and ate and ate some more, and occasionally did a bit of hiking and Youbike cycling and relaxing in the hot springs. Then I arrived home – to an empty fridge.

Well, not entirely empty. There were a few surprises lurking in the form of pre-Christmas food I had run out of time to turf out before I left. But it wasn’t so bad. The yoghurt survived, and I still had potatoes and onions.

I had a lot of energy when I was out and about travelling, but strangely it dissipated pretty quickly once I was back. The overnight flight, plus three hours time difference, combined with the shock of a hot and muggy Australia left me feeling wiped out. And my metabolism was also a bit sluggish after sitting on a plane and not exercising. Plus my purse was empty. (I can imagine how truly sorry you feel for me, all exhausted and poor after an exciting adventure.)

The next day I did not wake up until nearly 10am and I honestly could not be bothered to go to Aldi to buy supplies so I made do with what I had in the cupboard. And in the garden. And I’m not talking a well-groomed vegie patch here.

A bunch of freshly picked purslane from my garden

A prolific few stumps of purslane were growing happily I my garden. Never heard of purslane? Well, it is a frugalista delight. Basically what we know as a common weed is an omega-3 rich super food that is grown as a crop in many places in the world including southern Indian, Turkey and Mexico. It is also pretty yummy as well.

I fried it up with some free curry powder I received with a bag of red lentils from an Indian store, and voila, healthy suitcase potatoes. I felt a lot healthier from eating it as well.

Ingredients (per person)

1 medium/large sized potato
1 teaspoon of curry powder
1 spoon or oil (or butter)
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1cm piece of ginger, chopped
1 small bunch of purslane
1 tablespoon Greek yoghurt (optional)

Method

Pick the purslane from your garden just before you need it. Wash in water, discard the larger stems and chop roughly.
Peel and chop the potato.
Add oil to a frypan and add the ginger and garlic. Cook for a minute or two, then add the potato. Continue cooking for a few more minutes or until the potato is almost golden brown. Sprinkle on the curry powder and continue to cook for a further minute or so.
Purslane and potato fry up. Yum.
Add in the purslane and cook for a few minutes until wilted. Add the yoghurt (if using), cook until it is incorporated and serve immediately. For that super health kick, I like to eat mine over brown rice. Quinoa would work fine too.