বথুয়া শাক / Chenopodium / Lambs Quarters

Chenopodium album is a fast-growing weedy annual plant in the genus Chenopodium.

Though cultivated in some regions, the plant is elsewhere considered a weed. Common names include lamb's quarters, melde, goosefoot and fat-hen, though the latter two are also applied to other species of the genus Chenopodium, for which reason it is often distinguished as white goosefoot. It is sometimes also called pigweed, however, pigweed is also a name for a few weeds in the family Amaranthaceae,: it is for example used for the redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus).

Chenopodium album is extensively cultivated and consumed in Northern India as a food crop, and in English texts it may be called by its Hindi name bathua or bathuwa (बथुआ) (Marathi:चाकवत). It is called Pappukura in Telugu, Paruppukkirai in Tamil, Kaduoma in Kannada, Vastuccira in Malayalam, Chakvit in Konkani and in Bangla বথুয়া শাক .

Uses and consumption

The leaves and young shoots may be eaten as a leaf vegetable, either steamed in its entirety, or cooked like spinach, but should be eaten in moderation due to high levels of oxalic acid.[16] Each plant produces tens of thousands of black seeds. These are high in protein, vitamin A, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium. Quinoa, a closely related species, is grown specifically for its seeds. The Zuni people cook the young plants' greens.

Classification

Common Name – Lambsquarters

Local Name – Bathua

Botanical Name – Chenopodium album

Kingdom – Plantae

Subkingdom – Tracheobionta

Division – Magnoliophyta

Class – Magnoliopsida

Subclass – Caryophyllidae

Order – Caryophyllales

Genus – Chenopodium

Edible parts

Leaves, shoots, seeds, flowers. Saponins in the seeds are potentially toxic and should not be consumed in excess. Lamb’s quarters contain some oxalic acid therefore when eating this raw, small quantities are recommended. Cooking removes this acid. Lamb’s quarter can be eaten in salads or added to smoothies and juices. Steaming this edible weed is one method of cooking, or can be added to soups, sautés and much more. Drying this wild edible is one way to add this nutritious plant to your meals throughout the winter or you can blanch and freeze the leaves.

Edible Uses

Seeds of this plant can be crushed into flour which is again used for making different types of breads and pancakes.

It resembles spinach and hence it can also be cooked and eaten like it.

The seeds can be boiled or roasted and then ground to make porridge and cereals by blending with other ingredients.

Chenopodium album Picture

Chenopodium album

In ground form, it can be used for beer and other local alcoholic beverages like soora.

Shoots can be cooked with other vegetable or boiled and eaten.

Young plants are edible as a whole but in matured plants only the leaves and tips are tender, which makes it edible.

Sprouts can be integrated in salads and snacks.

Archaeologists analysing carbonized plant remains found in storage pits and ovens at Iron Age, Viking Age, and Roman sites in Europe have found its seeds mixed with conventional grains and even inside the stomachs of Danish bog bodies.

In India, the plant is popularly called bathua and found abundantly in the winter season. The leaves and young shoots of this plant are used in dishes such as soups, curries, and paratha-stuffed breads, especially popular in Punjab. The seeds or grains are used in phambra or laafi, gruel-type dishes in Himachal Pradesh, and in mildly alcoholic fermented beverages such as soora and ghanti. In Bangladrsh, it is used as spinach.

বথুয়া শাক / Lambsquarters, raw

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)

Energy                                   180 kJ (43 kcal)

Carbohydrates                                7.3 g

Dietary fiber                                     4 g

Fat                                                      0.8 g

Protein                                              4.2 g

Vitamins

Vitamin A equiv.                             (73%) 580 μg

Thiamine (B1)                                  (14%) 0.16 mg

Riboflavin (B2)                                (37%) 0.44 mg

Niacin (B3)                                       (8%) 1.2 mg

Pantothenic acid (B5)                   (2%) 0.092 mg

Vitamin B6                                       (21%) 0.274 mg

Folate (B9)                                       (8%) 30 μg

Vitamin C                                          (96%) 80 mg

Minerals

Calcium                                             (31%) 309 mg

Iron                                                    (9%) 1.2 mg

Magnesium                                      (10%) 34 mg

Manganese                                      (37%) 0.782 mg

Phosphorus                                     (10%) 72 mg

Potassium                                         (10%) 452 mg

Sodium                                              (3%) 43 mg

Zinc                                                    (5%) 0.44 mg

*Link to USDA Database entry

Bathua the Chenopodium Album is known to be a weed but they are loaded with numerous health benefits and it is famous as a healthy vegetable in India. I’m going to introduce to their medicinal benefits and side effects.

let’s start with their introduction.

The Bathua Leaves raise with cultivated crops and known to be a weed. Bathua develops across the hot places of the globe. Many countries raise chenopodium album for its seeds. Human uses bathua leaves & seeds for eating for the ancient time.

The Bathua leaves are boiled and eaten as other leafy veggies in India. Some of the recipes that we prepare in India are Raita, paratha of bathua leaves, and curd bathua.

Bathua is delicious, and easy to make :).

On the other hand, Bathua seeds are edible and actually healthful. It is loaded with entire crucial amino acids.        

Health Benefits of Eating Bathua (Chenopodium Album)

 1) Cures Constipation

The reason behind constipation is the wrong type of diet or unbalanced diet, eating disorder, lack of fibers in your meal, consuming a lot of dairy products and made it a common issue these days.

The Bathua leaves are loaded with fibre, and it has laxative properties, which helps cure constipation.

2) Rich in Vitamin A

Bathua is rich in vitamin A, which makes it more valuable. Its vitamin A content is comparable to carrots.

Vitamin A is crucial for normal eyesight and the immune system. It helps kidneys, heart, and other organs work the right way. It also protects against problems like night blindness.

Vitamin A plays a role in -:

Immune system function

Growth

Bone formation

Reproduction

Wound healing

100 grams of raw Bathua have:-

Vitamin A (RAE) = 580 µg/Vitamin A (IU) = 11600 IU

3) Blood Purifier

Bathua leaves also have cleansing properties, the juice of its leaves can purify your blood. Eat bathua with the juice of 4-5 neem leaves for purifying your blood.

4) Loaded with Crucial minerals

It is loaded with important minerals such as calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc.

5) Rich In Vitamin C

Along with important nutrients, and beneficial effects. Bathua has decent amount of Vitamin C.

The deficiency of vitamin C can cause a disease, that is popular by the name of scurvy. Therefore, Bathua is useful in treating Scurvy.

Few of the health benefits of Vitamin C are following-:

development and restoration

It is an antioxidant

Good For Brain

Makes Collagen

6) Improves Appetite

The natural recurring desire for food is Appetite and it is the need to eat in an effort to maintain energy balance.

If you are suffering from appetite problem then you can add bathua to your daily diet. Adding Bathua  to your meal plan can enhance your appetite. Bathua leaves can be used as a salad with tomato, juice of lemon and pinch of salt.

7) Improve Haemoglobin Level

Haemoglobin levels in the blood can be improved by increasing intake of iron rich foods in your meal plan, Including iron to your diet is an easy approach to increase the usual production of hemoglobin.

Already mentioned above, Bathua has a good amount of iron, which makes it ideal to enhance haemoglobin level in blood.

8) Rich in Amino Acids

According to National Library of Medicine, Amino acids are organic compounds that combine to form proteins. Amino acids and proteins are the building blocks of life.

Our body uses amino acids to make proteins help the body for breaking down food, grow, repair body tissue. perform many other body functions.

Bathua Leaves have a decent amount of amino acids. The leaves have 8 crucial amino acids such as Tryptophan, Phenylalanine, Methonine, Theonine, Threonine, Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine.

9) Heart Tonic

Bathua is thought to be a heart tonic because it’s good for heart health.

10) Common Medicine for Intestinal Parasites

The juice made by Bathua leaves is used as a common medicine for intestinal parasites. It eliminates intestinal worms in children if they eat bathua on a regular basis for a few days.

How To Take It-:

Take 10-15 ml juice of leaves

Add with pinch of rock salt

Take three times a day soon after meals

11) Keeps Digestive System Healthy

The leaves of chenopodium album are ideal for liver, gall bladder, and spleen. For maintaining digestive system healthy, you may consume 10 ml Bathua leaves juice.

12) For Kidney Stones

Chenopodium album is helpful and works effectively against the problem of kidney stone. It also decreases the tendency of stone formation.

How To Take It:-

Take tender leaves and stems

Crush them to draw out its juice

Take 10-15 gm of this on a daily basis with or without water.

13) Dental Health

When chewed the leaves, it helps to keep dental problems away. Leaves of raw bathua also help with ulcers of the mouth, pyorrhea, bad breath and other dental issues.

14) For Piles

Already mentioned at the top of the benefits list that it helps with constipation. Because of this aspect, the leaves are also useful in piles. Eating Bathua two times a day, in morning and evening,  gives a lot of relief to those who is suffering from piles.

15) Reduces Swellings

Bathua can be consumed to get rid of internal swelling and steamed leaves might be used externally to swellings to lower them. It helps reduce swellings both internal and external.

Side Effects of Bathua (Chenopodium Album)

These leaves are rich in oxalic acids, and it has a tendency to bind with calcium and reduces the availability of calcium.

Bathua seeds are abortifacient (that which will cause a miscarriage).

Therefore, It is not suggested during pregnancy because it can cause miscarriage in pregnancy.

This plant also has anti-fertility outcomes.

you should Eat Bathua in moderation because eating bathua in a large amount may lead to diarrhea.

Eating excessive amount of bathua leaves can cause gastric pain and issues in the nervous system besides other symptoms.

Steamed Lambsquarters

Ingredients:

* Water

* Olive Oil

* As much lambsquarters as you’d like to eat (a large, double handful makes a nice side serving per person)

* Fresh Minced Garlic

* Bragg or your favorite spice mixture

Directions:

Gather any of the tender leaves and stalks while they are small. I prefer to let some keep growing in my garden and keep the tender shoots well trimmed. It is also handy to be able to use the small plants that you have just weeded from around your garden plants.

Steam these greens for several minutes until they turn a bright green, only a few minutes, because you do not want them to get mushy. Drain the water from the greens and place onto your serving dish. Pour a dash of olive oil onto each serving. Top with minced fresh garlic and a bit of Bragg’s or your favorite seasonings.

Stir-fry Mixed Greens with Oyster Sauce

Ingredients:

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 lbs. ground pork (optional)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

3 tablespoons oyster sauce

a bunch of mixed greens (pea shoots leaves, lambs quarter, and spinach), chopped

1 teaspoon aleppo pepper

salt and pepper to taste

black and white sesame seeds for garnish

Direction

Saute onions in olive oil until tender. Add the ground pork cook it until no longer pink. Add soy sauce and oyster sauce. Then add mixed greens. Cook it until it turns bright green.

LAMB’S QUARTERS PESTO

Ingredients

1.) 1 cup lambs quarters leaves

2.) 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

3.) 1/3 cup walnuts

(Note: the classic version of pesto uses pine nuts; I choose walnuts because they're much less pricey!)

4.) 1/2 cup olive oil

5.) 2-3 cloves garlic

6.) 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice (not pictured)

7.) Salt & pepper, to taste (not pictured)

Instructions

1.) Put all cleaned & prepped ingredients into the food processor

2.) Process! Grate! Blend! Whatever you want to call that action of the processor doing its thing :)

3.) Store in glass jar in fridge for 1 week or freezer for 6-8 months

Bathua Curd

Ingredients:

Chenopodium Album (Bathua Leaves) - 1/2 bunch (roughly chopped)

Sour Curd - 2 cups

Gram Flour - 1 & 1/2 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp

Green Chilies - 1 small (finely chopped)

Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Sugar - 1 tsp

Water - 1 & 1/2 cups

For Tempering -

Clove - 1 piece

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Oil - 1 tbsp

Directions:

In a utensil, whisk 2 cups of curd and add gram flour.

Mix well and make sure no lumps are formed.

Add 1 & 1/2 cups of water and mix well.

Add ginger-garlic paste, green chilies, salt and sugar.

Now put this utensil to flame and keep stirring till it starts boiling.

As it boils, add the roughly chopped bathua leaves and mix well.

Let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Then add turmeric powder and red chili powder.

While the kadhi boils, prepare the tempering by heating oil in a tempering pan.

Add the clove and fenugreek seeds first.

As it leaves its aroma, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds.

Sprinkle a pinch of asafoetida as the seeds splutter.

Now add the tempering to the Curry and cover with a lid and remove from flame.

Yet another but delicious variant of Curry is ready to relish.