Fall

Indian-Style Mustard Greens

by:
January 23, 2013
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0 Ratings
Indian-Style Mustard Greens
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

We eat a lot of greens in winter months, and when we've reached our limit of garlicky Italian-style sautés we turn to this Indian-inspired dish that's layered with spice. Substitute whole, canned tomatoes for the fresh, if you like. Garam masala is an Indian blend of warming spices including cinnamon, coriander seed, cloves, cumin and more. You'll find it in most grocery stores—or any Indian market.
Serve this dish with an Indian flat bread such as naan or parantha and yogurt raita. You'll find frozen or fresh naan at many markets, including Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. —Ann S

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons Olive oil
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon minced, peeled ginger root
  • 4 small cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 1/2 pounds mustard greens, stems removed, roughly chopped
  • 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
  • salt
  • fresh lemon juice
Directions
  1. Warm oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garam masala, coriander and cumin and sauté until onion is soft (about 5 minutes). Add ginger, garlic and turmeric and cook for another minute or so, until garlic turns slightly golden, but not brown.
  2. Add mustard greens to the pan. You can do this in batches, if the volume overwhelms your pan. As the greens wilt, just add more, little by little, until you've got them all in. Add salt and stir everything up well, to mix greens with spices. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes.
  3. Add tomatoes and one tablespoon lemon juice. Stir and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until tomato is soft and greens are tender. Taste and add more lemon juice or salt as needed.
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  • Rani Ramchandani
    Rani Ramchandani
  • AntoniaJames
    AntoniaJames
  • Ann S
    Ann S

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6 Reviews

Rani R.
Rani R. December 25, 2013
Made it exactly as stated above and it was delicious! Thank you for the great recipe. Only tweak I made was adding chopped jalapenos for a spicy kick!
 
AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames March 12, 2013
Loved this!! Added a bay leaf with the onion; used lime juice instead of lemon because it was handier and used a canned plum tomato as the better alternative to the sad out of season specimens available. Just delicious. Thanks so much for posting this. ;o)
 
AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames March 13, 2013
P.S. I also learned, for the first time in over 30 years of preparing meals for Mr. T (the spouse), that he ate mustard greens quite frequently as a child, as his "Daddy-Boy" (grandfather, raised in Georgia) loved them. The lucky boy spent a lot of time with his grandparents (wonderful people), where he was regularly served mustard greens! Mr T really likes them prepared this way, which as you can imagine, is considerably different from how they were prepared in the deep South, back then. We can get gorgeous mustard greens off and on at our Asian farmers market, so this will definitely be on the menu again, and often! ;o)
 
Ann S.
Ann S. March 13, 2013
I'm delighted that you enjoyed this dish—and that it opened the door for appreciating an old favorite in a new way! Totally agree with the choice of canned tomatoes—fresh ones this time of year have nothing much to offer.
 
AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames March 8, 2013
Just what I was looking for . . . Mustard greens were out in full force at the Asian farmers' market in Old Oakland today, so i bought some, but with no particular plans for them. This will be on our dinner table tonight. Thanks so much for posting this recipe! ;o)
 
Ann S.
Ann S. March 9, 2013
I hope you enjoyed the dish. You don't have to cook the greens as long as the recipe suggests. In India greens of all sorts are often cooked until very soft—this is somewhere in between.