Green Leafy Vegetables in US

Hi friends,

In the US, I come across different kinds of green leafy vegetables. I regularly use Spinach, Indian Amaranth, Indian Malabar Spinach, Swiss Chards and Bok Choy (for noodles). I am wondering if any of you use the other green leafy vegetables in Indian cooking like Brocolli Rabe, Mustard green, Kale, Watercress, Aragula, Radish greens, Beet greens etc. I find a lot of greens in the Vietnamese and Oriental section. I tried Collard greens, but did not like its somewhat bland taste.

Regards!

Hi nivedi,
Nice thought and thread. I too wander down the produce aisle looking at these wonderful green leafy's and wonder how people cook with it, if there is an indian thing to do with them?!. I prepare collard greens sometimes as a side dish. Basically I chop the collard greens roughly into edible portions. I chop an onion(vidalia) into small pieces. Heat oil in a kadai, add cumin seeds , then onion, then a little ginger garlic paste and thereafter the chopped greens. Cover and cook till soft. But not too soft- so as to retain nutrition. Eat it as a side dish to go with non veg item to balance it out,i.e. protein, veggies carbs.
Would love to hear from others too!
~ Naazneen.

Yes,I have tried beet and radish greens along with the respective vegetables,they are good.

Hi,

Excellent thread!
I use spinach,italian spinach(Bachali),Red chard,Indian Amaranth,mustard greens,water cress,methi,mint etc.All of them were good.When i prepare dhal with water cress or mustard greens i use cranberries or fresh methi leaves combination to give extra taste and flavour .

can anyone tell me in what way u use other green leafy veggies which u get here??

vaishu

Nazneen - Thank you for giving me the recipe for Collard Greens.

Sunitha - Do you cook Beet and radish greens with dhal or is it used for salads?

Vaishnavi - Thank you for the recipe for Watercress and Mustard greens.

Dear Nivedi

I cook it along with beet in the case of beet leaves and radish in the case of radish leaves. My recipe is very simple. I just season mustard,add the vegetables and leaves,add turmeric powder,chilli powder and salt and cook.If required,I might add grated coconut in the end.For radish,I usually cook channa dal and add it too.It will be a dry curry only.

Hi all,
We eat lot of greens including which we get in chinese or vietnamese stores. The way I cook is… normally sauté the greens with little bit of oil then use spoonful sauce and if you like you can add vegetable stock if u are vegetarian or chicken stock if you are non vegetarian it gives more flavor to dish. Some times I also use soy sauce depending on the greens I use...some of the sauces I use are roasted hot pepper sauce, black pepper souse, black bean sause,chilli garlic sauce

Vaishnavi: how do you cook bachali apart from making dal..I have lot in my back yard..I don’t seems to like smell when I cooked in the dal..

Tulasi

Thank you Tulasi and Sunitha for your response.

Ive tried the watercress ..But i didnt like the smell..Ive heard watercress is a rich source of antioxidants

Cheers
Ramya

Hi Tulasi,

i do Kanda Bachali apart from bachali daal.

Firstly,in 2tsp-3tsp oil i do seasoning with 1/2tsp channa dal,1/tspurad dal,1/4 tsp mustard,1/4tsp cumin,2-3green chillies(finely chopped,finely chopped ginger(1 inch piece),2 red chillies.Now add the chopped and cleaned Bachali leaves and cook for a while.Parallelly,in a tsp of oil saute the peeled and cubed kanda for 2min and add water just enough to cook the kanda cubes for about 5-7min on medium flame(cover and cook).Now add the cooked kanda cubes to the above cooking bachali ,tamarind paste,salt,turmeric and cook till done.Finally garnish with either chopped cilantro or add some 2tsp mustard powder and serve after 1-2 hours with warm rice and some chips or vadiyalu/paapad.

hope u got the recipe,
goodluck,
vaishu