Kahha Maarah Ohlone Salad
Thomas J. Story
This salad, served at a recent installment of ‘oṭṭoy at Cafe Ohlone, is one of the truest ways to taste the abundance of the East Bay. Using a wide variety of native ingredients topped with a vibrant berry dressing that’s punctuated by the herbaceous richness of California bay laurel, the salad’s flavors are at once familiar and exciting. The recipe calls for ingredients like East Bay pickleweed, also referred to as sea beans, which can be found at specialty grocers like Berkeley Bowl and select Whole Foods locations.
Use what you can gather mindfully; the real joy is experiencing the colorful array of ingredients and appreciating the land and culture from which it comes.
This recipe and others like it can be found in the article “Meet the Founders of This Groundbreaking Indigenous Restaurant at UC Berkeley.”
How to Make It
1
Make the dressing: In a medium saucepan, simmer 1/4 cup water with blackberries. Add California bay laurel leaf and agave nectar. Once the blackberries simmer to bursting, remove bay laurel, and blend to a smooth purée. Set the dressing aside to cool.
2
Assemble the salad: After washing and drying berries, greens, and flowers, finely chop East Bay pickleweed, and cut gooseberries into halves.
3
In a salad bowl, combine watercress, pickleweed, purslane, redwood sorrel, piñons, black walnuts, hazelnuts, blackberries, halved gooseberries, and huckleberries, reserving a few of the berries to garnish individual plates.
4
Pour the prepared dressing and roasted walnut oil over the bowl and toss to combine. Add crushed East Bay salt to taste.
5
Plate the salad. Top the salad with a garnish of California blackberries, halved gooseberries, California huckleberries, dried California strawberries, toasted piñons, nasturtium flowers, and California violas.
6
Add a sprinkling of popped amaranth seed and serve.
Ingredients
For the Salad Dressing
¼ cup water
2 pt California blackberries
1 California bay laurel leaf (or commercially available bay laurel)
1 tbsp agave nectar
For the Salad
3 oz East Bay pickleweed (also known as sea beans or salicornia)
2 pt gooseberries
5 bunches watercress
1 bunch purslane
1 bunch redwood sorrel
3 tbsp piñons, also known as toasted pine nuts, plus more for garnish
3 tbsp California black walnuts, shelled
6 tbsp roasted hazelnuts
1 pt California blackberries
1 pt California huckleberries
1 ½ tbsp roasted walnut oil
East Bay salt to taste
6 oz dried California strawberries
6 nasturtium flowers
6 California violas
2 tbsp amaranth seeds, popped
Directions
1
Make the dressing: In a medium saucepan, simmer 1/4 cup water with blackberries. Add California bay laurel leaf and agave nectar. Once the blackberries simmer to bursting, remove bay laurel, and blend to a smooth purée. Set the dressing aside to cool.
2
Assemble the salad: After washing and drying berries, greens, and flowers, finely chop East Bay pickleweed, and cut gooseberries into halves.
3
In a salad bowl, combine watercress, pickleweed, purslane, redwood sorrel, piñons, black walnuts, hazelnuts, blackberries, halved gooseberries, and huckleberries, reserving a few of the berries to garnish individual plates.
4
Pour the prepared dressing and roasted walnut oil over the bowl and toss to combine. Add crushed East Bay salt to taste.
5
Plate the salad. Top the salad with a garnish of California blackberries, halved gooseberries, California huckleberries, dried California strawberries, toasted piñons, nasturtium flowers, and California violas.
6
Add a sprinkling of popped amaranth seed and serve.
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