Beet greens - an underrated green!
e The other day my friend Cynthia wrote to me, "Have you ever tried beet greens, they taste great, they have a naturally smoky salty taste?".
I did not plan the timing of this question from my friend to match this post, however it fits quite aptly. This pretty and mild tasting green often gets unnoticed, and ignored. Beet greens are not that easy to find outside of farmers markets and gardens partly because they tend to reduce the staying power of the beets. Well, I will miss them in winter, but for now with every bunch of beets that we pick we shall have the joyful bonus of a beautiful head of greens.
Beet greens have more of a bite than spinach and certainly have more texture, but are milder and softer than chard or kale. The beet green recipes that I post, would work with most of the mentioned greens, usually kale or chard make a good substitute and spinach of course, is always available.
This recipe uses sliced almonds for a nice crunch and cooked chickpeas for body.
Most people shy away from cooking their own chickpeas, it is well worth the effort, both for taste and health reasons. I shall talk more about cooking lentils and beans in a future post, and introduce you to working with a pressure cooker. A slow cooker also works for cooking and working with chickpeas. Either way, doing it yourself eliminates a lot of the extra sodium in canned chickpeas and also provides a deeper richer taste.
Anyhow onto the beet green recipe which is such a hit in our house,
Spice Sautéed Beet Greens with Almonds and Chickpeas
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon coarsely ground cumin (bruise the whole cumin in a mortar and pestle to release some of the flavor)
1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
6 cups of finely chopped beet greens
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1/3 cup sliced almonds
½ cup cooked chickpeas
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Method of Preparation
- Heat the butter and the oil and add in the cumin and cook for a few seconds to let the cumin sizzle.
- Add in the ginger and the garlic and cook for about 1 minute till the garlic is pale golden.
- Add in the greens and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring to let the greens wilt slightly.
- Add in the salt and the red chili powder and mix well and let the greens cook for about 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in the almonds and the chickpeas and mix well and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Turn of the heat and mix in the cilantro and serve.
Comment
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Comment by Hook Mountain Growers on August 14, 2010 at 10:13am -
Made this last night and loved it. I only coursely chopped the beet greens. Definitely will make again and may try with swiss chard too. Thanks for posting this!
© 2012 Created by Meghan E. Murphy.
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