Creamy Spicy Fern Soup

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Vegetable or edible fern is a famously consumed classic vegetable in my area. It gives a unique and exotic flavor, like of a mushroom. The stem is tender and the leaves is small and smooth. Only young shoots are used for cooking. This fern is usually cooked by stir frying it  with shrimp, beef, mushroom or cooked with coconut milk to form a creamy fern soup called Masak Lemak Pucuk Paku. The easiest way to cook it is to steam it and eat it with rice and other condiments like fish sauce, soy sauce or sambal. I cooked this long ago, and now I decided to share this recipe. The taste is unique, and this soup is usually eaten with rice.



Ready in around 15 minutes

 Ingredients
  • 200 gram vegetable fern (take only soft stem and young shoots with soft leaves)
  • 3 cups coconut milk
  • 2 tablespoon dried shrimp (can be substituted with fresh shrimp or anchovies)
  • 3 to 5 shallots
  • 1/2 inch fresh turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 3 bird eye chili (optional)
  • Sugar and salt
Raw vegetable fern.

 Methods
  • Prepare the fern. Pinch 1 inch of the stem starting from the end of the shoot. Stop when the stem produce 'tik' sound. It shows the stem is hard. Clean and rinse well.
  • Grind the shallot, chili, turmeric and dried shrimp in food processor or blender. Make a fine paste.
  • Heat a pot with slow medium heat. Add in all ingredients. Mix well and stir occasionally. Add in salt and sugar to taste.
  • When the coconut milk start to boil and fern stems are tender, turn off the heat and serve. 



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