In the world of edible flowers maybe nasturtium is the tastiest.
Its leaves have a stronger peppery taste than the flowers, and some flowers might carry sweetness too. The flowers are definitely a great addition to any salads, for pop of color and spice. The leaves look beautiful on any plated dish. When it comes to the leaves they can be used as basil, and added to pesto, sauce, oil. The result is a herby-peppery flavor that is so very distinctive. These flowers are very easy to grow, they will look beautiful in your garden, or in a deep pot on your balcony. I was told they do not like to be replanted and they can grow well only if there is deep enough space for them. If there is not enough soil for them, they will still grow, but their leaves are going to turn into smaller and smaller ones. Those are really good for presentation, but to use them in cooking, you would need lots of bigger ones.
This flower inspired my cooking tremendously and when I found some huge leaves, I decided to use them as taco shells and fill those with all sorts of plant based goodness.
If you cannot find big leaves, you can use some salad leaves as taco shells. In any case I recommend these to have as an appetizer, or a quick bite. I also classed this dish under raw and vegan but I actually toasted the seeds and coriander for the dukkah. To keep the dish fully raw you will need to make this condiment with untoasted, sprouted seeds.
To have balanced flavors and textures I came up with a few layers. For a start, our taco shells will originally have quite some spiciness. I was thinking about adding a slightly sweet crema made with avocados, and since it is spring I blended that with peas and sugar snap pea juice. If you don’t have a juicer to make pea juice (you will need that to achieve soft, crema texture), you can either add little bit of water or just simply process avocado and pea in a food processor into a dip like texture. Peas will bring lots of sweetness and flavor to the green crema. To keep the natural flavor I only added a little bit of garlic, salt, black pepper and a few drops of lemon juice.
To make a substantial base salad I decided to go with carrots and cauliflower. I bought some very tender ones at the market, and both veggie is great with the cumin-smoked paprika flavors that I chose to add to it. After slicing them not too thin on mandolin, mixed them with the spices, avocado oil, salt, fresh chopped cilantro and some lemon juice. Make sure to keep tasting the salad and add enough cumin and smoked paprika to deliver a chorizo kind of flavor.
For a crunchy component I made a quick dukkah with toasted pumpkin, sesame and coriander seeds. After toasting each seed separately, added them in food processor and pulsed a few times.
For the pickle (because there is no taco without something pickled!) I sliced fennel very thin on mandolin and for the pickling liquid I used agave, lime juice and champagne vinegar. Also added the fennel fronds to the pickles.
Ingredients (4 tacos)
- 4 big nasturtium leaves (or soft lettuce leaves)
for the avocado-pea crema:
- 1 avocado
- 1/4 cup of young, tender peas
- juice of sugar snap pea (just enough to be able to blend crema)
- 1/2 garlic clove, smashed
- black pepper
- 1 tsp of lemon juice
for the spicy carrot-cauliflower salad:
- 1/2 C sliced carrots
- 1/2 C sliced cauliflower
- 1 Tbsp avocado or extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1 Tbsp chopped scallion
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
- black pepper
- 1 tsp lemon juice
for the dukkah (there will be lots of letover)
- 1/4 C toasted pumpkin seed
- 2 Tbsp toasted sesame seed
- 2 tsp coriander seed (or more if you like to have strong coriander flavor)
- salt, cayenne to taste
for the pickled fennel
- 1 big fennel bulb (thinly sliced and salted)
- 1 Tbsp fennel fronds, chopped
- make the pickling liquid to your taste using
- lime juice
- champagne vinegar
To plate the tacos spoon some of the crema on the leaf, top with the carrot salad and nasturtium leaves and petals, sprinkle with generous amount of dukkah and serve with pickles on the side.
TIP: In case you are missing the creaminess, you can also make a simple cashew sourcream which is made with soaked cashew, lemon juice, salt, apple cider vinegar and just enough water to be able to blend into a cream.