A Sustainable Taste of El Salvador

14/03/2013

 

Do you miss your home country? Whenever you do, it can be soothing to cook what you have had in your childhood. Today Milagro from El Salvador wants to share her comfort food, while avoiding any food waste, as part of our Love Food Hate Waste recipe series. Have fun with trying out this awesome sustainable recipe!

 

 

Photo: Radish leaf patties

As part of the Love Food Hate Waste project (LFHW), during February I went out and around asking Spanish speaking people to share their recipes where they avoid wasting food. The objectives of LFHW, which is run by the Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW (ECC) and funded by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) are raising awareness and preventing food waste.

Since February 22, the collected recipes have been being broadcasted through Hora 13 (at 1:00pm), a SBS Radio Spanish program. Listeners can learn not only interesting recipes - from how to make radish patties to Mexican Chilaquiles - but also tips to avoid food waste… so many reasons for you to tune in to the program!

Today I’d like to introduce Milagro’s recipe of radish leave patties. Milargro is a lady from El Salvador who works as a multicultural community development worker in NSW. Thanks to her cultural background and work experience, she has learned as many as possible out of things around her. Some of them are learned from her childhood experience and some others are from her work experience at rural native communities in El Salvador.

Here in Australia she has noticed that migrants who came to live here very young have forgotten how things used to work back at home. Milagro says that she has noticed those who migrated at early age have forgotten many things they had learned back in El Salvador. Radish leaves are one of them.

One day when she was having dinner with her son and he said how much he loved the dish that he thought was spinach leaves. Migro had to correct him that it was radish leaf patties and told him that they had used the leaves for ages in soups, eggs and of course in radish leaf patties.

Would you like to try the taste of El Salvador? Here is the famous fantastic recipe from Milagro!

Radish Leaf Patties (4- 6 servings)

Ingredients

1 bunch of radish leaves chopped (6 or 7 leaves)
1 shredded carrot (carrot pulp can be another option)
1 shredded potato
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
1 egg
1 tomato chopped
Meat (optional)
Coriander and salt to taste

Preparation

In a bowl mix all the ingredients (radish leaves, shredded carrot or potato, onion, garlic, egg, tomato and egg).
Add salt and coriander to taste.
Make patties in advance.
Put a pan on the stove over a high heat. Once it gets warm, turn the heat down to medium and add oil. When the oil is hot, add the patties. Cook them on both sides.
When cooked, put them on a tray and serve them hot.
The patties can be served with fresh salad or sauce.

Story by Pilar Angon
Recipe by Milagro