Sesbania flower omelette, as the name suggests, is a Thai-style omelette made more special with sesbania flowers. It’s so good with steamed jasmine rice and Sriracha sauce or nam prik kapi. Plus you can whip it up in no time!
SESBANIA FLOWER OMELETTE: AN EDIBLE FLOWER DISH
There’s something really fascinating about using flowers as an ingredient in your foods. I ADORE flowers and love having them around the house and in my garden. They’re just so pretty and such an interesting food. Sometimes I look at the edible flowers and I’m, like, wow, I can’t believe we can eat them. Some of them are actually really good. For the recipe in this post, I’m using one kind which you may have guessed from the title of the post. And that is sesbania or “dok sanoh (ดอกโสน)” in Thai.
Sesbania flowers make such an attractive addition to dishes. In terms of taste, I would say these flowers have a subtle sweet pea flavor and they don’t smell grassy or anything. They are commonly eaten in Thailand with nam prik kapi (another great Thai dish!). Also, you can use them in kai jeow dok sanoh (ไข่เจียวดอกโสน), which you’ll find out how to make in this post. Or, you can blanch or sauté them to serve with different types of nam prik.
Other than that, they are also used in a Thai dessert called kanom dok sanoh (ขนมดอกโสน), an awesome treat that is hard to find but so easy to make.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY OTHER RECIPES USING EDIBLE FLOWERS!
- Butterfly Pea Milk
- Butterfly Pea Lemonade
- Hibiscus or Roselle Drink
- Jasmine Infused Water
- Thai Sticky Rice Pudding with Corn
SESBANIA FLOWERS
Also known as Sesbania aculeata, danchi, dunchi, dhaincha, canicha, prickly sesban, or spiny sesbania, sesbania flowers are one of the easiest edible flowers you can find in Thailand. Not only are they easy to find, but they are also easy to cook. In Thailand, the variation of sesbania flowers you’ll mostly see is the yellow one.
Sesbania is a perennial plant that grows pretty much anywhere, even without any care along the roads. Believe it or not, most of the time it’s considered more of a weed here! People don’t usually plant or grow them. Their seeds just get spread by birds.
In the Thai countryside where people have a bit (or a lot) more land, if the seeds sprout, people just let the plants grow but they don’t really care for them. However, when the plants flower, they harvest the flowers to eat and sometimes to sell.
I remember having fun picking them with my aunt in Ayutthaya when I was a kid. 😁😁 If you see a sesbania plant and you want to pick the flowers, choose the ones that aren’t fully open and remember to watch out for the hairy caterpillars!! Alternatively, you can get them at your local market if you live in Thailand. They come in a large bag all year round, usually at 20-25 baht.
FUN FACT: Sesbania is the provincial flower of Ayutthaya, the province my father comes from. 🤓
HOW TO PREPARE SESBANIA FLOWERS
You’d think you’d always have to be very careful when cooking flowers. However, that’s not the case with this omelette recipe. For these yellow edible flowers, you just have to rinse them thoroughly with running water. Then, you want to remove them from the stems but keep the green little stalks that hold the petals together on. After you’ve done this, you’re good to go.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cups of sesbania flowers, rinsed and removed from stems
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
HOW TO MAKE OMELETTE WITH SESBANIA FLOWERS
- Set a pan over medium-high heat and grease with the oil.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl. Add garlic, sesbania flowers, and soy sauce and beat.
- Fry the egg mixture when the oil is sizzling hot for about 2 minutes. After that, flip the omelette and continue to fry for another 2 minutes or until done. You can decide how golden brown you want your omelette to be.
- turn off the heat and serve immediately.
HOW TO SERVE OMELETTE THAI STYLE
You can serve it with steamed jasmine rice along with nam prik kapi, Sriracha or any sauces you want. But if you already like the original taste of this omelette, you can just enjoy it on its own or maybe with a glass of Thai iced tea. 🙂
OTHER RECIPES YOU MIGHT ENJOY SESBANIA FLOWER OMELETTE WITH:
- Thai Holy Basil Chicken | Pad Kaprao Gai
- Thai Green Papaya Sour Curry with Shrimp | Kaeng Som
- Tom Yum Goong
- Vegan Thai Red Curry with Mushrooms
- Nom Yen (Thai Pink Milk)
- How To Make Salted Eggs
Sesbania Flower Omelette Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cups sesbania flowers rinsed and removed from stems
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
Instructions
- Set a pan over medium-high heat and grease with the oil.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl. Add garlic, sesbania flowers, and soy sauce and beat.
- Fry the egg mixture when the oil is sizzling hot for about 2 minutes. After that, flip the omelette and continue to fry for another 2 minutes or until done. You can decide how golden brown you want your omelette to be.
- Turn off the heat and serve immediately.