Sisnu is stinging nettle, and it is eaten in the hill villages where little else will grow at the end of winter. It has a reputation as a food of hardship and a second reputation, held just as firmly, as a medicine: households press it on anyone who is unwell, and nettle powder is now sold in Kathmandu markets for people who cannot get the fresh plant. What separates the Nepali preparation from every European nettle soup is the thickening. Maize flour goes in at the end and the whole pot is beaten with a firke until it turns into a thick green lēdo, closer in body to dhido than to broth, and timur is ground in to give it the cold numbing edge that marks hill cooking. The sting disappears in the first minute of boiling and never comes back.
Zone: Tibetan Sphere
INGREDIENTS
- 400 g young nettle tops (picked with gloves)
- 30 g fine maize flour
- 3 garlic cloves (crushed to a paste)
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns (ground)
- 2 pinches ajwain (carom seeds)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 green chilli (chopped)
- 800 ml water
- 1 tbsp ghee
METHOD
- Wash the nettle thoroughly in cold water, still wearing gloves, and discard any thick stems.
- Bring the water to a boil in a wide pan, add the nettle, cover and cook for 10 minutes until it has collapsed completely and gone dark.
- Mash the nettle against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon, or lift it out, chop it roughly and return it.
- Slacken the maize flour with a little cold water into a smooth cream, then pour it into the pan in a thin stream while beating hard.
- Add the garlic, ground peppercorns, ajwain, chilli and salt. Keep beating over a medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until it thickens into a dark green paste that holds its shape briefly on a spoon.
- Stir the ghee through and serve hot with dhido or rice.
NOTES
UK adaptation: Frozen nettle is sold by Polish and Eastern European grocers and keeps indefinitely, which is the easiest route. Dried nettle leaf from any health food shop also works: use 40g, rehydrated in hot water for 15 minutes. Fresh nettle tops can be picked in spring wearing gloves, taking only the top four leaves of young plants and nothing after they flower. Where no nettle is available at all, a mix of spinach and watercress in equal parts gives a similar depth, though it is milder and needs less cooking. Fine maize flour, sold as makai ko pitho or as fine polenta, does the thickening; do not substitute cornflour, which goes slimy. Timur is Nepali wild Sichuan pepper; Sichuan peppercorns from a Chinese grocer work. Everything else widely available.
US adaptation: Frozen nettle from an Eastern European grocery, or dried nettle leaf from a natural foods store, rehydrated in hot water for 15 minutes. Forage young nettle tops in spring wearing gloves if you prefer them fresh. Equal parts spinach and watercress stand in where no nettle is available. Fine cornmeal for the thickening, not cornstarch. Sichuan peppercorns from an Asian grocery for timur. Everything else widely available.
Cook’s note: Nettle grows abundantly across Britain and picking your own is the authentic route rather than a compromise, since this is a foraged dish everywhere it is cooked. Take the top four leaves of young plants in spring, wearing gloves, and stop once the plants have flowered, as older nettle turns gritty. Avoid verges at dog height and anything beside a sprayed field. Boiling kills the sting within a minute, so stop worrying once it hits the water. The dish is judged on body rather than flavour: keep beating after the maize flour goes in until it thickens enough to hold a spoon upright for a second before it falls.