Collard Greens Recipe:
Indian Collard Greens Dal

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup red lentils
• 1/2 cup yellow lentils
• 1 bunch collard greens
• 1/2 cup tomatoes, diced (author uses Del Monte canned tomatoes with zesty jalapeño)
• 1 small onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 inch piece ginger – optional
• 3 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp asafoetida – optional
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp oil

Steps:

1. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Peel the ginger - don't chop it so that you can pull it out at the end of cooking.
2. Heat a large pot with the oil. Add all the lentils and fry on low heat till the lentils are very slightly brown. To the lentils, add 5 cups of water, salt, and turmeric. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Stir constantly to prevent the lentils from foaming over.
3. Once the water is boiling, reduce heat to medium low. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and curry powder. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes.
4. While lentils are cooking, wash the collard greens. Remove the tough stalk and veins. Stack up the leaves, roll them tightly, and chop into strips.
5. After 20 minutes, check to see if lentils are done. The author suggests not letting them go more than 20 minutes so they don't get mushy.
6. Add the chopped collards into the lentils and cook another 5 minutes until the collards are just wilted. Turn off heat. Pull out the ginger piece. Taste and adjust for salt. Depending on how tart the dal is, add lemon juice accordingly. Sometimes the tomatoes alone will do the trick and you wont need the lemon, so taste first!

Submitted by: Sala Kannan