This is a favorite winter recipe in our house. You might think a child would balk at the vegetable heavy ingredient list – and believe me, at first my child did. But after she tasted the delicious sauce she couldn’t resist and has always ended up eating a heaping serving. You can make this with just the vegetables by omitting the meat. As an alternative to red meat, I have also added pre-cooked shredded chicken to this recipe at the end just to warm it up and that has been great as well so it is very versatile recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. beef or veal stew meat
- 1/3 cup of coconut oill or ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
- 1 generous pinch of asafetida (this is an Indian spice that enhances the onion flavor – if you don’t have it just omit and don’t worry about it!)
- ¾ tspground cardamom or 3 cardamom pods
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds (you can use ground or toast and grind your own)
- 1 teaspoon ground medium-hot Indian red chili powder, or half-sharp paprika depending on your taste for spice
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced into thin half-moons
- 1 large carrot, sliced into ¼ inch pieces
- 4 plum tomatoes, diced (or you can use 1 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes)
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 can of whole coconut milk
- 2 cups of homemade stock (for a vegetarian version use vegetable stock, for beef use veal or beef stock, for chicken use chicken stock)
- 2 large bunches of collard greens, cut into inch-thick ribbons
- Juice of half a lime
Directions
In a large Dutch oven, heat the ghee on medium-high. Add in the beef stew meat and brown on all sides – about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove stew meat to a plate.
Add to the pan the cumin and cardamom pod seeds (crack open and scrape out the inside). When the spices crack and sizzle, add in the coriander, asafoetida and spicy chile powder (you can add more to your spice liking). Try not to let them burn. Once the spices are brown, add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook the onions on medium, stirring every now and then, till they’ve softened significantly and have started to brown, about 5-10 minutes. Add in the carrots and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes with another small pinch of salt and cook till softened. Add another small pinch of salt, the coconut milk, and 2 cups of homemade stock. Stir to combine, then cover and cook for about 3 hours – checking about halfway through but this isn’t really required if you keep the heat on low.
About 40 minutes before serving the dish, add in the collards by the handful, cover the lid and cook on low until the greens are tender. You can reduce the sauce if you like, but this is intended to be served over rice, so it should be a little loose. Just before serving, stir in the lime juice (this is an important step in creating a pop of flavor – do not skip it!).
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This looks delicious! What would you think about using butter in place of ghee? Would that alter anything?
You just can’t heat butter to as high a temperature as ghee so go slowly!
When do you add the meat back in? when cooking for 3 hrs, or the last 40 min with the collard greens? Also, if you don’t have a dutch oven, what alternations need to be made? Thanks!