Collard Greens Kootu recipe

Collard greens are high-fiber green variety and hence it will be lil chewy just like our Agathi keerai. The taste resembles our Moringa leaves when used in Indian recipes. I have already written in detail about the health benefits & nutrition packed in Collard greens in my post on Collard greens stir fry (link). Adults will love both stir fry & kootu but for kids, the preference will always be dal-based kootu.

Collard Greens Kootu recipe

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Base inredients:

• Collard greens Leaves – 1 bunch (10 to 12 leaves)
• Onion – 1
• Tomato – 1

To pressure cook:

• Toor dal – ½ cup
• Turmeric powder – a generous pinch
• Asafoetida – a generous pinch
• Garlic cloves - 2 to 3

Spices:

• Sambar Powder – 1 tsp to 2 tsp
• Salt – ½ tsp or as required

To grind

• Coconuts – 5 lengthwise pieces or 2 tbsp grated
• Cumin seeds/Jeera- ½ tsp
• Dry red chillies- 1 or 2(Optional)

To Temper

• Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds/Kadugu- ¼ tsp
• Urad dal - ½ tsp

Instructions

1. Refer below pics to see how to wash and chop Collard greens.
2. Wash toor dal twice and transfer washed dal to cooker. Add chopped garlic cloves, turmeric powder, asafoetida and a cup of water to dal.
3. Pressure cook in medium-high flame for 4-6 whistles or until cooked well.
4. Add a tbsp of coconut oil and once hot, add mustard seeds.
5. Once spluttered, urad dal. Once it starts to change color, add chopped onions and fry well.
6. Once translucent, add chopped tomato and fry till mushy.
7. Once mushy, add sambar powder and fry for few seconds in low flame.
8. Add washed and chopped collard greens and fry for a minute in medium flame.
9. Then add ½ cup of water and allow it to cook in open pot for 10 mins in medium flame. Stir intermittently.
10. Grind coconut pieces and jeera with lil water. If you want spicy version, add 1 or 2 dry red chillies while grinding coconut. This will elevate the spice & taste.
11. Once greens are 90% cooked, add cooked & mashed dal and ground coconut paste along with salt. Rinse mixie jar with ¼ cup water and add.
12. Mix well and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.
13. Transfer to serving bowl. Dal will thicken over time.

Notes

1.Toor dal can be substituted with split ¼ cup yellow moong dal(paasiparuppu) and ¼ cup chanadal(kadalaiparuppu).
2.You can cook dal for extra whistle to make it mushy. You shall mash it with mathu or potato masher.
3.You shall substitute big onion with a handful of Pearl onions for elevated taste.
4.Tempering with coconut oil, gives a nice flavor. You shall substitute with ordinary cooking oil too.
5.You shall replace sambar powder with your gravy powder. Or just add 1sp dhaniya powder + 1tsp plain chilli powder+1 pinch Jeera powder +1 pinch pepper powder. Add more chilli powder for spicy version.

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How to wash Collard Greens ?

1.Take each Collard leaf, cut out the middle thick stalk and separate the leaf.

2.Discard the stalks and save the leaves. Now, let’s wash the leaves. Take the leaves in a big bowl, add water and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder.

3.Add a tbsp each of Kosher salt and lime juice. Keep the leaves soaked in this water for 5 mins.

4.After 5 mins, wash the leaves and pour out the water. Again wash them twice or thrice using fresh water. Now, wash the cutting pad and place a leaf on it. First fold the leaf as shown.

5.Again roll the leaf from the centre towards the corners. Now cut them into vertical strips.

6.Cut in the centre and collect all the strips together. Now, it will be easier to chop them finely.

7.Repeat this for every leaf. If you have a bigger & sharper knife, you shall fold 2 to 3 leaves together and do the same process for faster chopping. Chop 1 big onion and 2 to 3 medium-sized garlic cloves.

Goes well with rice and ghee. Serve with Grilled salmon(link) or Taro Fry(link).