Collard Greens Poricha Kootu – Dal With Collard Greens

Collard Greens With Dal

Cooking greens with dal is the safest thing to do when you are trying new greens. Lentils are quite forgiving, that they absorb the flaws of other ingredients (if any), in any recipe. They are creamy, comforting and can be prepared in countless number of ways with ingredients on hand. If you don’t like a particular green with dal, then you may never like the green at all. At least, I don’t (I have had really bad experiences with some unknown Asian greens).

After deciding that I and G like a specific green, I normally move on to using ‘em in other recipes. But with collard greens, I always come back to dal, particularly moong. The combination of creamy moong dal with hearty collard is a winner in our home.

Collard Greens

I would say, collards are kale grown without the ruffles but with much pleasanter taste. After all, they belong to the same cabbage family. Collards are an excellent source of Calcium, Iron, Manganese and Dietary Fiber. They thrive in colder temperatures, so winter is the best time to buy ‘em.

Cooking collards on stove-top takes about 25 minutes, and they still retain their crunchiness. Since I make it with dal, I find pressure cooking the greens to be much faster and easier. The ingredients are barely chopped and thrown into the cooker and then blended finally to attain the desired consistency. If you don’t have a blender, finely chop the vegetables before cooking.

In the Northern hemisphere, unripe tomatoes are picked before the first frost. They are aplenty in our city these past few weeks. In a recent trip to the farmer’s market, I came back with these green beauties. After making salsa and fried green tomatoes, I added the last two to this dal. The tart unripe tomatoes added a totally new dimension that we absolutely loved. If you are not game for tart green tomatoes, then go with red tomatoes. They too contribute well with their sweet flavour and red colour.

Ingredients

Collard Greens – 4 leaves, chopped along with stems into big pieces
Moong dal – ½ cup
Green tomatoes or red tomatoes or a combination of both – 2, chopped into big pieces
Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
Green chillies – 2
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – few
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Oil – 1 tsp
Salt

Method

In a pressure cooker, cook moong dal, collard greens, tomatoes (green and/or red), green chillies, cumin seeds and turmeric powder with 3 cups of water, for 3 whistles. Once the pressure subsides, remove the cooker lid, and let it cool a bit. Add coconut and salt to the cooked dal. Using a hand blender, lightly blend dal, till the greens and tomatoes are chopped into smaller pieces.

In a seasoning pan, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds and toast curry leaves. Add to the dal. Serve hot with any spicy sautéed vegetable and rice lightly drizzled with sesame oil.

Collard Greens With Dal

Collard greens kootu with cauliflower, pan-roasted with sambar powder

This is my final installment of 1-in-3Western Greens, Indian Style. This creamy comfort is on its way to My Legume Love Affair, hosted by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook. Her gifted hands delight the readers with not only delicious recipes, but also with well-written posts.

27 comments:

amna said...

ah is this the third in the series? I love that white bowl with the twisted edge, really pretty.

I haven't been using much greens in my cooking of late, shud keep that in mind.

Menu Today said...

Hi Suganya,
Keerai milagootal with cauliflower looks awesome.
All your earlier keerai recipes very good and nice pics. Thanks for sharing.

sunita said...

A little rice, and we're set for a wonderful meal...got room for one more? :-D

Nupur said...

That is a very good point: cooking veggies with dal is a great way of consuming less-like veggies!
So, of all the greens that you tried- chard, collards and kale- which was your favorite? :)

Rajitha said...

yum! i can imagine how delicious these would be with hot phulkas!!

Finla said...

Yeah really true when you are saying cooking new greens with dal is the safest thing to do.
It looks delicious

evolvingtastes said...

Loved your series Suganya. I love greens too, ans do all the similar things that you mentioned (with aloo, with dal, even using a familiar seasoning to try out new greens). In fact I already have some green recipes in the drafts; my pictures are not half as splendid as yours though.

Rajesh &Shankari said...

yum..cant wait try this. I have never added tomatoes, so this is new to me

Namratha said...

Looks good enough to dunk in right away...I hardly cook with collards, this would be a good recipe to start with :)

Mansi said...

Coolard greens are one greens I haven't beenable to come to terms with:( but your meal looks good Suganya!:) hope you can send something in for my Game Night Party event too!!:D

musical said...

Great recipe and mouthwatering pictures! I have to try this one as well. Love collard green and am sure this recipe would be very comforting!

Dee said...

Personally , I would go with red tomatoes, but Id like to try the tart tomatoes too :) I think its an art to use american veggies in our Indian cooking. Im sure you have excelled in it!!! Im visiting after a long time.. and its always a pleasure to be on your blog!

Pooja said...

WOw ! look at those pictures... feels like it is just in front of our eyes...i loved the dish too , seems tasty and healthy too , am i right ?
thank for sharing dear.
Stay tuned...
-Pooja

Sia said...

what a coincident sug... i just had dal with collard greens:) quite spooky.. he he he...
new year and sankranthi wishes to u sug. i know bit belated:)

Sihi said...

loved the series!

KayKat said...

Delicious! Collard greens are a favourite - so much more depth than regular spinach.

Anonymous said...

it's nice to see someone else uses a pressure cooker!

Padma said...

I love to read your 1-in-3 series.
Looking for more of these series ahead. Tx for sharing.

Sig said...

Wow, this blog has really gone green, huh? :) I love all bitter greens - collard greens, kale and mustard greens yummm...

DEEPA said...

U r a star lady ...excellent pic !!!
I am completely drooling over this recipe and the bowl of dal ......yummy

DK said...

am yet to try collard.Your snaps though make every vegetable out there luking so good!umm.. :)

Bharathy said...

Hmm..I too just stick on safely to Molai Keerai,even if we have lotsa varieties here!..these are easy to chop and clean and goes to a variety of dishes(the simple secret):)

Lovely spread of greens! :)

Ramki said...

Hi Suganya,

I've blogged your Keerai Kootu as a mdel recipe in the 1001 Kootu cookbook at http://ramkicooks.blogspot.com/

/Thanks for the recipe

Suganya said...

Ramki, Thanks for the mention.

Unknown said...

Good One Suganya.. I tried it just sometime back,. :) I love to cook (I am not sure how many bachelors like to) ... And I like to keep trying new things...
Good Recipe Again!!

Anonymous said...

Today I made collard greens with dal and was very tasty. Thanks Suganya.

Anonymous said...

Hello Suganya,
I am going to try this recipe today with swiss chard.
Can you tell me how to purchase and store fresh curry leaves? Since u r south indian you would be best person to know. Whenever i get curry leaves from Indian grocery stores, they trun dark in about a week!! Also i live in apt so cannot curry leaf tree outside.
Thanks. Awaiting ur response.

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