Collard greens is a vegetable with flat broad leaves and dark green color. Collard greens are very popular in southern states of USA and are often cooked for New Years day to bring good luck. Collards are rich sources of vitamins and minerals.
Collards do not fall into typical greens category like spinach, it does not wilt or cook to a pulp, rather holds up to good bit of intense cooking and still retains its shape. In that sense, I like to treat them like kale or cabbage. Due to its hefty nature, it suits well for Indian cooking where it can be simmered in a simple broth and cooked to absorb all the delicious flavors. It truly is a sponge and intensifies in taste with cooking.
This particular preparation is adapted from Kashmiri cuisine, where the vegetables are cooked with spicy dried red chillies, which are very popular in that geographical region.
This dish has minimal ingredients, the focus being red chillies and adding bell peppers to intensify the capsaicin content. The collards are rolled and cut into thin roundels to get long strips. It is simmered in a simple sauce of red onions, bell peppers and tomatoes, flavored only with ginger and red chillies. The collards are allowed to simmer on a very low heat for up to 2 hours to obtain a rich and deep flavored dish.
If collards are not available in your part of the world, try this recipe with cabbage and the results will be the same amazingly flavored pot of curry !
This recipe utilizes the InstantPot to hasten and intensify the cooking process. Saute the ingredients for the gravy directly in the pot, add the collards and cook under pressure for 45 minutes. The water content from the collards is released into the dish and it cooks in its own juices while absorbing the rich spice and color from the red chillies.
If you do not have an InstantPot, the same can be achieved using a regular stovetop pressure cooker. Alter the cooking time accordingly.
I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome of this dish and now it will be my easy go-to recipe to handle collards. It has a beautiful and bright hue and very appetizing. We eat first with our eyes !
Depending on how fresh the collards are, the water content may vary. So the final dish might have a little bit of juice depending on the cooking time it takes to absorb all the water content. We found this juice very desirable to enjoy with plain rice. If a thick dish is preferred, increase the cooking time to 1 hour and it will be in a perfect consistency to wrap a hot roti.
This dish will be a huge hit 👍 and I can’t wait to hear all your OOOs and AAAs 🙂
Spicy Collard Greens recipe
- Ingredients –
- Collard greens – chopped into thin strips – 2 packed cups
- Red onions – sliced – 1/2 cup
- Mixed bell peppers – sliced – 1 cup
- Tomatoes – chopped – 1 cup
- Garlic – 2 pods
- Ginger – shredded – 1 tsp
- Turmeric root – shredded – 1 tsp
- Red chilly powder – 1 tsp
- Dried red chillies – 3
- Cumin seeds – 1tsp
- Ajwain seeds (oregano seeds) – a pinch
- Oil
Procedure –
- Start the InstantPot on Saute mode
- Add oil, fry cumin seeds, ajwain seeds and dried red chillies
- Add garlic, ginger and turmeric
- Next add chopped onions, top it with bell peppers and tomatoes
- Add the collards, salt and red chilly powder, mix well
- Turn to cook with pressure on and set timer for 45 mins
- Release pressure naturally, open and mix. Check salt and adjust. Enjoy !
1 thought on “Spicy collard greens – in InstantPot”