Thursday, January 01, 2009
indian diced potatoes with greens
collard greens and a happy new year!!
Eating black-eyed peas and collards on New Year’s Day is supposed to bring prosperity in the coming year. I’ve read that collards are supposed to symbolize greenbacks, and I guess black-eyed peas represent coins? Even if you’re not superstitious, in today’s financial climate, it’s probably wise to eat collards… I can think of several concrete ways that collards can boost your budget.
1. As vegetables go, collards are pretty darn cheap—so if you eat plenty of them, you’ll end up saving money! There’s some extra greenbacks!
2. We’re always reading about the health benefits of eating green vegetables—especially those in the Brassica family, like collards, broccoli, kale, and cabbage. A quick search of the web turned up a trove of health reasons to eat collards; they help prevent cancer, soak up nasty free radicals and eliminate toxic compounds, provide calcium for bone strength, and contribute folate and vitamin B6 for our blood vessels. So you’ll be saving all kinds of money by not going to the doctor’s office! Sheesh, collards are way cheaper than a triple bypass!
3. And you know what? If you cook collards right, they taste great! I always parboil my collards in salted water to remove some of the bitterness, which makes them a lot more tender and delicious. (Some of my friends claim this is removing the nutrients, too—but if I didn’t parboil them, I wouldn’t eat them. So I think washing a few nutrients down the drain is worth the trade-off.) If you’re at home eating yummy collards, you’re not spending money at a restaurant!
4. Even though collards are traditional Southern fare, they grow very well in northern climates, too. Here in Alaska our farmers grow bountiful crops of them in the summer, so processing and freezing them for the winter can really save you a bundle. You can watch my YouTube video, linked below, on how to process collards, and be ready for next summer. Then you can buy loads of collards from your local farmer for a song!
This delicious Indian recipe is definitely not the traditional Southern braised collard greens to go with Hoppin’ John, but I love it! The original recipe (from Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking
indian diced potatoes with greens
I’ve made and loved this recipe for years—it’s a variation on one in Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking
2 pounds waxy potatoes (e.g., Yukon Gold)
sea salt and kosher salt
1 to 2 pounds collard greens or kale
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon whole black or brown mustard seeds
1 to 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon garam masala (Indian spice mixture)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
garlicky yogurt sauce (optional; recipe below)
1. Bring 2 ½ quarts of water to a boil. Peel potatoes if you like (I don’t bother) and dice into ¾-inch cubes, then add to boiling water with 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a boil again. Cover, turn heat to low and cook potatoes until they are tender—about 6 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain. Spread potatoes out and leave to cool.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil, and salt it well.
3. Cut the long stems away from the collard or kale leaves. Stack the leaves on top of each other and slice the leaves into 1-inch wide ribbons.
4. Plunge the greens into the pot of boiling salted water, and cook until tender. This could take as long as 8 or 10 minutes, but could be much shorter. Start tasting after 5 minutes. Drain the greens and set aside.
5. Heat oil in a heavy, 12-inch, preferably nonstick skillet over a medium-high flame. When very hot, put in the mustard seeds. As soon as the seeds begin to pop (this just takes a few seconds), add the onion and 1 teaspoon of salt. Turn heat to medium and fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Onions should turn very lightly brown at the edges. Add the garlic and fry for another minute or two. Now put in the chopped greens and keep stirring and frying for another 10 minutes. If the greens aren’t meltingly tender, add a cup or so of water and let them simmer on low heat, covered, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the cooked potatoes, the garam masala, and the cayenne pepper. Stir and mix gently until potatoes are heated through. Taste for salt and add more as necessary. Serve with garlicky yogurt sauce, and rice if you like!
garlicky yogurt sauce (raita)
2 cups plain yogurt
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (optional)
Put the yogurt in a bowl. Whisk until smooth and creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well, taste for more salt, and chill until needed.
brown basmati rice
I learned this technique from Mollie Katzen’s Vegetable Heaven
1 1/2 cups uncooked brown basmati rice
2 teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt
1. Fill a medium-sized pot with 10 cups or so of water (it doesn’t need to be exact) and bring to a rolling boil. Add the rice to the water, turn down the heat, and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the rice is just tender.
2. Drain the rice in a strainer over the sink, and immediately dump rice back into the hot pot. Cover tightly with the lid and let steam OFF THE HEAT for 20 minutes. Fluff the rice.
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I’m going to have to try this - being in the South, everyone has collard greens and I just haven’t developed a taste for them.
BTW - when boiling veggies, I keep the cooking water and give it to my indoor plants once it’s cooled off - that way they get the nutrients I didn’t!
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Nice post. I tried making a home version of the fruit and walnut salad, but the low-fat yogurt I bought doesn’t taste anything like the yogurt McDonalds has. I tried sweetening the yogurt with sugar as well, but it still doesn’t taste quite as good as the original. Anyone have an idea how to make the yogurt taste better
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A mess of fresh collard greens Enough water to cover in a pot Equal parts sugar and salt, to taste
Ham hock, thick bacon or fatback, as preferredWash and rinse the greens thoroughly to remove grit. Put in a large pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.
Tina
Onions should turn very lightly brown at the edges. Add the garlic and fry for another minute or two. Now put in the chopped greens and keep stirring and frying for another 10 minutes. drug addiction treatment
I offer her all types of veggies and fresh fruits at every meal but she doesnt eat them. Doctors said to be persistent and keep trying. But in the time being im worried about her nutrition/calorie intake.
Oh thanks! Indian kitchen is very tasty! I know it!
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Collard greens are various loose-leafed cultivars of Brassica , the same species that produces cabbage and broccoli. The plant is grown for its large, dark colored, edible leaves and as a garden ornamental, mainly in Brazil.
really helpful. thank you very much.
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See other Holidays New Year’s For a look back on the the biggest stories of collard greens or cabbage with black-eyed peas or pork for a year.
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I just put our vegetarian Hoppin’ John on the stove. . .but wish I’d read your post before we started making dinner! This sounds great, and I’ll definitely be adding it to my list of *must cook* recipes. One question though: Does Meredith eat this? Because I have serious issues getting my Abby to eat anything with garlic, cayenne or garam masala in it! Thanks for another great recipe!
Hi Carrie! Thanks for reminding me to hot-link my vegetarian Hoppin’ John recipe on this post, too!! You know, Meredith DOES like this Indian potato & greens recipe--because it’s not really spicy-hot. Also she’s really into the garlicky yogurt sauce. So… yes, it has the flavors from the garam masala, but it’s not really HOT. If you’re choosing between different garam masala mixes, I’d just say to choose the least spicy… and go easy on it the first time around. I hope everyone loves it!!