Still best known in Britain for the aromatic seeds that form the basis of countless curry powders and spice mixes, the tasty fresh greens of fenugreek have somehow remained below our foodie radar. But in fact this exotic eastern vegetable is as delicious as it is foolproof to grow, and Britain should embrace it.
Its fresh herby flavour has made it a staple vegetable in India and Nepal, more interesting than spinach but without the pungent fieriness of rocket or watercress.
Yet despite its enormous popularity in curry-house cuisine (if you ever see the word “methi” on a menu, that is it) tracking down fresh fenugreek leaves in the UK can be tricky. It is imported in loose bunches and displayed unrefrigerated on the shelves of Asian grocers, and nine times out of 10 the leaves are well beyond their best.
Fortunately for greedy gardeners, getting hold of viable seeds is far less difficult. Scan the spice section of any good supermarket and you’ll get a canister of hundreds of them for a couple of quid or less. Sprinkle them over a patch of well-drained soil in full sun, rake over, water in well and you are all set.
The seeds germinate quickly to form a low mat of clover-shaped leaves about 30cm high, which makes a pretty groundcover between taller, widely spaced crops, such as tomatoes or sweetcorn. This not only gives you two crops from the same space, but also significantly cuts down on your need to weed. Add to that the pretty white flowers that pop up in summer, which bees love, and the fact that fenugreek roots are capable of fixing nitrogen in the soil to naturally fertilise the crops around them. All this makes the crop a perfect all-rounder.
Fenugreek’s aromatic leaves also take well to being hacked back in a cut-and-come-again fashion, with regular harvesting of greens down to 10cm above ground level encouraging the plant to kick out new flushes of fresh, young greens right up to the first frosts.
Last year a 2x2m raised bed underplanted with fenugreek supplied my family of four with an almost inexhaustible supply of spinach-like greens. They work just as well in sag aloos and dals as they do sautéed with garlic and lemon or stirred into pasta sauces. What’s more they are rich in iron, vitamins, fibre and antioxidants. Surely it’s only a matter of time before marketeers make this the next “must-have” superfood.
Email James at james.wong@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @Botanygeek
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