Maybe you have a ton of onion weed in your backyard like we do. It’s chive smell can be experienced every time we or a neighbour mows the lawn. Onion weed is actually quite pretty with it’s fairyland looking flowers. It’s hard to imagine that it is so offensive to some people (being a noxious weed and all). If you are unsure, don’t eat it. Otherwise, happy foraging!

Tofu the bunny doesn’t pay onion weed any attention.

Since our neighbour mentioned they eat onion weed in dumplings, I’ve been dying to try it out. So here’s a recipe I fudged together. Enjoy!

Onion Weed Dumplings

Makes about 50 dumplings

Ingredients
500 grams (1 pound) pork mince
10 leaves onion weed
7 onion weed flower tops (about 5 flowers each)
12 dried shitaake mushrooms
1 tablespoon black vinegar
Salt
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon chili seasoning
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup of water
1 packet of dumpling wrappers

Preparation

1. Soak the mushrooms in 1 cup of hot water for a 5 minutes. Drain and reserve the liquid.
2. When mushrooms are cool enough to handle, remove stems. Finely chop the mushroom caps and also the onion weed and flowers.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except for the water and dumpling wrappers.
4. Mix well.
5. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the mixture into the centre of a dumpling wrapper. Fold in half and then make 4 pleats and push down onto a hard surface to seal.
6. Repeat until all the mixture or all the dumpling wrappers are gone. At this stage, dumplings can be refrigerated or frozen for another time.
7. Heat a large non-stick frying pan (with lid). Add a drizzle of oil.
8. Quickly arrange as many dumplings as will fit in 1 layer at the base of the pan.
9. Cook for a couple of minutes until the bottoms of the dumplings are golden brown. Add half a cup of the mushroom liquid and cover for 5 minutes until the liquid is all gone.
10. Remove lid and cook for a further few minutes until dry. Keep an eye on the dumplings to make sure they don’t burn.
11. Repeat cooking process with remaining dumplings or freeze uncooked dumplings for another time.
12. Serve immediately with dipping sauce of your choice. I quite like black vinegar or soy and chili.