This is mouloukhieh; a very popular green in Lebanon and Egypt (where it originated). Mouloukhieh is also known as corchorus olitorius, jew’s mallow, corette (in French) and Asian names (popular as a tea in Japan), or country-style American names like bush okra.
It is easy to grow from seeds, my friend Phoebe used to grow it in her backyard in Dallas, Texas. It takes only a few weeks to grow. It also freezes beautifully; in fact, every Middle-Eastern store sells it frozen and dried.
In Lebanon, it is prepared as a stew or a soup to which chicken or lamb is added and served over rice with a bowl of chopped onion swimming in vinegar or lemon juice and another bowl of baked pita croutons.
I have posted two methods of preparing it, however there are many more. In terms of nutrition, it is an extremely nutritious green (calcium, iron, fiber, antioxidants, etc).
To prepare it Lebanese-style
To prepare it Coptic-style
5 Comments
If I didn’t know better, I would say it was stinking nettle. That is exactly what it looks like in that photo. Can you describe the flavour?
Valerie
Oo – over a warm bowl of rice sounds lovely – not easy to find here!
I only know the powdered version. I’d love to eat the fresh leaves…
Cheers,
Rosa
So nice to learn about this new leafy green Joumana – I always get a chuckle out of your mysterious eats posts because I hardly every know what they are!!!
chow! Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
My father in-law, george loves this stuff, he calls it the Big M! Sadly, around here we can only find it dried, it looks so beautiful fresh! I’m sending him this link now, he’ll get a kick out of it.