SOUR GOODNESS

Leaves of madhu soleng, an easy-to-grow weed, are a great souring agent

- VIBHA VARSHNEY

IT MIGHT be a weed, but it is quite tasty. The leaves of madhu soleng, as the Chinese knotweed is known in Assamese, taste sour. Raw leaves are generally used to prepare salads, but creative cooks can put them in dal, curries, chutney and even pickle them.

The leaves can be stored for four to five days. The plant also bears berries that taste sour. Its flowers and seeds are edible, too, but are merely available for a few days in the monsoon season. “I would recommend it as a souring agent because it is an anti-inflammatory herb and great for gut health,” says Sangeeta Khanna, a Delhi-based food and nutrition expert, who usually adds madhu soleng leaves to dal instead of tomatoes or raw mangoes. She also uses them to prepare fish tenga, a traditional Assamese dish.

Madhu soleng (Persicaria chinensis, which loosely translates to “the plant from China which has leaves like that of peach”) is generally considered invasive. In tea plantations, it has been reported to cover tea bushes and block drainage systems. It has been spotted even in protected areas such as the Kaas plateau reserve forest in Maharashtra, which is famous for the flower neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana) that blooms once in 12 years.