Minced Indian Aster (Ma Lan Tou) Cold Dish

It’s kind of hard to explain the flavor of indian aster, Kalimeris indica, also known as Ma Lan Tou (馬蘭頭), herby and little cooling on the tongue, a hint of bitterness that you’re almost not quite certain is there, but refreshing and somewhat addictive. Most of the time it’s served as a cold Shanghainese side dish (or an egg drop soup, or dumplings) that exists for only a short period in spring while the leaves are tender, blanched quickly and finely minced and dressed with tofu, sesame oil, sugar, and soy sauce. Eyeball it so that it just lightly coats everything, you can’t really go wrong there. Start light with the soy sauce and add more if you’d like it saltier, same with the sugar if you want it sweeter. I sometimes don’t have tofu, but on it’s own is quite delicious too. If you do use tofu, you can do dried five spice, firm, silken, tofu skin, whatever strikes your fancy in the moment.

You can serve with rice, or with some scallion pancakes to wrap with.

The reason I’m showcasing it is because it is a rather attractive perennial creeping groundcover in my garden, staying low and growing no higher than an inch or two but slowly and steadily spreading. It flowers into light purple with a yellow center in the fall, and was one of my grandmother’s favorite dishes–fresh was unheard of here in the states when she was alive, so now that I get to enjoy it right from my backyard is an homage to her memory. It’s pretty hardy, from zones 5 – 9 with some varieties capable of surviving zone 4. Sun or shade, and relatively drought tolerant although it spreads quicker with regular watering.

It also easily propagates in just water, growing roots in days, so my oldest spent one year propagating a bunch for fun, as she enjoyed seeing them grow and then plopping them into a new location.