Using Sweet Pea Shoots in Your Dishes
I love eating alfalfa sprouts and other types of sprouts (excluding clover). On one of my recent trips to Whole Foods Market I discovered sweet pea shoots. They are thin green stems with little leaves on top. I decided to give them a try so bought a package.
When I got home I took out some of the sweet pea shoots, rinsed them in a colander under running water, and put some in my mouth. They tasted pleasant and sweet. From that point on I knew that I would be eating these sweet pea shoots time and time again. They are good to have in your diet, taste great, and enhance the flavor of salads, sandwiches, soups, and other dishes. They can be eaten raw, so all you have to do is add them to your dishes when the dishes when they are done cooking.
Below you will find some recipe ideas that use sweet pea shoots. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized carrot
- small batch sweet pea shoots
- salt
- cinnamon
- rice vinegar salad dressing
Instructions
- Wash a medium sized carrot, peel, and shred (using a manual shredder or a food processor) and place in a salad bowl. Add a pinch of salt, sprinkle with cinnamon and stir.
- Place a batch of sweet pea shoots into a colander and rinse under running water. Drain the shoots and then using scissors cut into smaller pieces. You can also just cut them on a cutting board with a knife.
- Place the cut shoots into the salad bowl with the carrots. Drizzle with rice vinegar salad dressing and mix. How much rice vinegar salad dressing to add depends on your taste, so drizzle a little bit of it onto the salad, stir, and try. Feel free to add more if you want to.
- This recipe makes for one serving. If you are planning to feed more people just add more carrots and sweet pea shoots to the salad.
Sweet Pea Shoots in Sandwiches
The next time you are making a sandwich consider adding some sweet pea shoots inside it. The sandwich will taste that much better. No matter what sandwich you make adding these delicious shoots inside will not ruin it, so there is nothing to worry about. You don't have to add them to the sandwich though. You can have the shoots on the side (just like you would a pickle) if you prefer.
One of the sandwiches that I love to make is toasted rye bread, with avocado spread over it, and sweet pea shoots, some sliced tomatoes on top followed by salami or bologna slices. It tastes very good. You can even add a slice of cheese on top and place it into a microwave so that it melts. While the taste will remain as delicious as it was, placing the sandwich into the microwave will make the toasted bread soft again. So if you want some melted cheese on top of your sandwich, while keeping the bread toasted, it is best to place the sandwich into the little portable oven that plugs into the outlet (I forget the name of it).
Sweet Pea Shoots and Fish Fillets...
The next time you cook your favorite fish fillets (I love Flounder in Teriyaki Sauce) you can either garnish them with some (uncut) sweet pea shoots or just place the shoots on the side. You can eve serve your fish fillets with the sweet pea shoots and carrot salad that I wrote about above. It will go great with the fish.
Sweet Pea Shoots in Soups
Sweet pea shoots go great with soups too. When you add them to the soup however, be sure to do it when the soup is ready to be served. Just pour the soup into a soup bowl, add some cut sweet pea shoots to it, stir and enjoy!
© 2012 Lena Kovadlo
