Collard Greens

Its been a while since I posted a new recipe. I have been busy and a bit lazy too. Well I have been searching for different leafy green vegetable recipes since currently I can only think of spinach as an option other than lettuce. I remembered enjoying the collard green dish at an Ethiopian restaurant and I decided to recreate that dish. The result came pretty close to the original, and I was very happy with the result.



Ingredients

1 bunch- Collard greens, remove the thick woody stems and veins - chiffonade cut (roll up the leaves together and then slice thinly to get ribbons)
1 inch - cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves
2-3 green cardamom pods
1-2 red chillies
2 garlic cloves - finely diced
1/2 inch ginger - finely grated
1 yellow onion - diced
1/2 tomato - diced
1 tbsp - canola oil
1-2 tbsp water
salt to taste

Method
Heat the oil. To this add the cloves, cardamom, garlic, ginger, cinnamon and red chillies. Fry this for a couple of minutes. Then to this add the onion. Fry this till it is transparent and then add the tomato. Let the tomato cook for 5-6 minutes. Stir the mixture while it cooks. Once the tomato looks cooked, add the collard greens, stir it and add the water. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes. Collard greens is a tough vegetable and takes a while to cook through.

Tips
I use the taste test to determine if it is cooked through. The texture should not be chewy. The final dish looks wilted and tastes great. I made Uttapa to eat it with and it is as close I can get to the Ethiopian restaurant experience without the "Injera" bread. Great to eat as a side dish or enjoy with some hot chapatis.