Beggar's Nettle Purses ‒ Kerjäläisen nokkosnyytit

My spouse loves making crepes although I need to watch his back since he can get quite picky on which ones looks absolutely perfect and which ones he tries to dump into bio waste bucket. It usually falls into my responsibility to decide how to top them. This time the fresh nettle leaves I had just been picking  were the oblivious choice.

I do fully admit using nettle inside crepes is really just another variation of making classic nettle pancakes. But it's a nice one, no way around it. And wrapping the crepe around the filling into a surprise package does give it a whole new touch. Somehow wrapping thing inside each other always feels more exciting than just placing them next to each other on the plate. The original beggar's purses are mini-size appetizers filled with caviar so for these more filling versions, I came up with the idea of using beluga lenses which are sometimes called "vegetarian's caviar".

The crepes:
- 1 litre oat milk
- 3 dl barley flour
- 3 dl wheat flour
- 1.5 dl melted margarine
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- oil or margarine for frying

The filling:
- 1 l fresh nettle leaves (or 150 g blanched and frozen)
- 2 dl beluga lenses
- 2 dl oat cream
- 2 tbsp tar liqueur (or 1 tbsp dark syrup and 1 tsp liquid smoke)
- salt

For decoration:
- Spring onion stalks

Whisk the flours into the cold milk little by little. Add the rest of the crepe batter. You can also sprinkle a little bit of turmeric Leave alone for an hour or so. Heat up the frying pan and make sure you're using enough oil to keep the crepes from sticking. Pour a ladleful of batter evenly on the pan. Tilt the pan to make sure it spreads evenly but thinly. When the edges start look golden and the center also holds together. Loosen with a spatula and turn around. When the other side is done as well, move aside and add more oil before continuing with the next crepe.


Rinse the lenses. Wash the nettles, cut out bad parts or stalks and chop the rest into smaller pieces. Put all the filling ingredients into the same pot and add enough water to almost cover them. Cook until the liquid has absorbed and the lenses are done. About 30‒40 minutes should do.

For the serving, place a spoonful of the filling on the crepe. Collect the edges into a perfect looking package.and tie carefully together with a string or a spring onion stalk.

Nutritional values / 2337 g (without the frying oil):
energy 3671 kcal
fat 149 g
protein 114 g
carbohydrates 452 g
fiber 68 g