Collard greens are not a familiar vegetable in Korean cuisine. However, since the vegetable is nutritious, healthy, and delicious, I wanted to use it in my cooking. First I tried to make kimchi with it, but it turned out too tough. Then I tried cooked collard greens at a BBQ restaurant in New York and I enjoyed the taste a lot. I wanted to develop a recipe that fits the Korean taste.
The first collard green recipe is based on an authentic Korean dish. I used to use napa cabbage leaves or radish leaves instead of collard greens. If I were still living in Korea, I would never think about using collard greens for the recipe. Since I am living in the USA, getting collard greens is easier than getting napa cabbage or radish leaves, and they are always cheap.
This recipe worked perfectly, even with the stems. When the stems are cooked they’re soft and crunchy just like broccoli stems.
In my second collard green recipe, I used roasted cashew nuts to make a milky broth. This is a completely vegetarian side dish. Adding a little bit of honey and vinegar worked perfectly. You could use this as a side dish for roasted turkey or chicken, fried chicken, and BBQ.
I made these dishes for my friends and got great feedback. Make both versions and let us know which one you prefer. A year ago, when I posted 2 kinds of soybean sprout soup: spicy or non-spicy, I ran a poll to see which one my readers preferred. The result shows more people prefer spicy to the non-spicy version.
Korean-style collard greens side dish
Ingredients
1 pound of collard greens, salt, garlic, onion, dried anchovies, soybean paste, and water.
Directions
- Boil water in a large pot.
- Cut off the top tough part of the collard greens, and arrange the leaves side by side stems parts and leaf parts.
- Add a handful of salt to the boiling water.
- Put the collard greens stem-first in boiling water and cook for 1 minute.
- Submerge the collard greens in the water by pressing them down with a wooden spoon.
- Close the lid and cook for 3 minutes.
- Drain the collard greens and rinse them in cold water a couple of times.
- Drain the water and chop the leaves into small pieces.
- Put them in a wok or cooking pot.
- Add 3 cloves of minced garlic, 7 large dried anchovies (after heads and guts are removed), ¼ cup of soybean paste, ¼ cup chopped onion, and 1½ cup water.
- Close the lid and bring to a boil.
- 10 mnutes later, open the lid and mix it with a spoon and cook another 10 minutes.
- Transfer it to a serving plate and serve with rice.
Maangchi’s vegetarian collard greens side dish
Ingredients
1 pound of collard greens, garlic, olive oil, roasted cashew nuts, water, salt, honey, vinegar.
Directions
- Boil water in a large pot.
- Cut off the top tough part of the collard greens, and arrange the leaves side by side stems parts and leaf parts.
- Add a handful of salt to the boiling water.
- Put the collard greens stem-first in boiling water and cook for 1 minute.
- Submerge the collard greens in the water by pressing them down with a wooden spoon.
- Close the lid and cook for 3 minutes.
- Drain the collard greens and rinse them in cold water a couple of times.
- Drain the water and chop the leaves into small pieces.
- Put them in a wok or cooking pot
- Blend ⅓ cup roasted cashew nuts and 1½ cup water with a blender for a minute.
- Add it to the pot.
- Add 3 cloves of minced garlic, 2 ts salt, 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tbs honey (or sugar) and 1 tbs vinegar.
- Mix it with a spoon well and bring to a boil over high heat.
- 10 mnutes later, open the lid and mix it with a spoon and cook another 10 minutes.
- Transfer it to a serving plate and serve with rice.
- Serve with main dish such as roasted meat or BBQ.
Posted on Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 9:28 pm.
Last updated on April 26, 2015.
Tagged: Asian cuisine, collard greens, cooking blog, Food and drink, food blog, healthy food, korean food, Korean kitchen, Korean recipes, side dish, vegetarian dish
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hi maangchi
thanks so much for the great site. i’m about to try the second recipe with mu leaves but i
have a question. the ingredients list honey but in the directions, you don’t mention the honey. when is it added and how much. also, my eemo sometimes adds a little 조선간장
when making 나물. will that be ok in this recipe?
thanks again for everything.
take care and stay well
c
Oh for some reason I’m seeing you comment just now.
Thanks for pointing it out, I corrected the recipe.
Hello! I am so happy to have found your site! I am in Korea and figuring out how to cook new things with the new ingredients! If you were in Korea, what greens would you use? I see different ones and get a little intimidated… just because I don’t know what they are! or how best to cook them! i usually just mix them with other veggies in a stir fry but I am so excited to try new recipes! And it’s so great that all of yours are all on the stove- because that’s what I’m working with! I also have not done a ton of cooking in the past and am really excited to explore my creative cooking side! Thank you so much!
Use napa cabbage. Napa cabbage is expensive in North America, so I found collard greens work well with this recipe. As long as you are in Korea, use cheap napa cabbage! There is no collard greens in Korea. https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/napa-cabbage
Maangchi, I’m so glad you mentioned radish leaves! I’m going to make this tomorrow to stretch out my jjajangmyun leftovers. I’ve got a HUGE bunch of young summer radishes that I don’t want to make into kimchi and I’ve been trying to figure out something to make out of them. So I think this dish with the greens and pickles with the radishes. I’m so happy!
That’s a great idea! Please update me!
Just made this tonight and it’s delicious. The only modification I made was that I cooked it quite a bit longer than the recipe called for. It’s just a personal preference, but I like my greens cooked to death. LoL
I love to eat well cooked and almost mushy leaves, too! And like you, I also enjoy greens cooked to death! lol
Hi Maanhgchi, have you ever thought of mustard green kimchi, it is so good. I made it once and it was very delicious. you should try it. My mom would make it every summer.
of course I tried it. Gat kimchi (mustard green kimchi) is my favorite. The recipe will be posted someday in the future.
WOWEE!!! thanks, maangchi. i totally love greens (any kind: collards, kale, mustard, turnip, etc.) and i usually cook them traditionally as we do in the south, i.e., i use a smoked hamhock or turkey wing. However, I am always open to new ways of preparing greens and i totally love this korean twist. please post more recipes using greens!!!!
BTW, i made doejibulgogi yesterday. wow, total YUM! last week, i made korean radish and beef soup and musaengchae. YUMMMMM!
“I am always open to new ways of preparing greens and i totally love this korean twist.” It sounds like you are very open-minded!
I love that you take the ingredients of the country you live and adapt it to your own cuisine’s taste!
I’m pretty sure this should work with kale too. It’s going to be in season here come winter so I might make it with that.
In the spring here there is a vegetable that I think is young cabbage or radish leaves or something (not sure what plant it actually is), this sounds like an excellent recipe for that vegetable.
Kale sounds great, let me know how it turns out.
That’s a good idea, I should try kale here too.
Love the background music! I love Clazziquai (and the recipe of course XD)! both dishes look appetizing! They both made me crave!
yeah, I’m a big fan of Clazziquai these days.
Great invention! Can you substitute collard greens with kale?
I’m not sure. You can experiment and let us know if it works.
Maangchi shi, your jokes are soooooo funny!!!!
When I get back in the States I will try the Korean version.
But now I also have to develop a Kimchi recipe for Collards that is not tough.
I find that if you blanch the collards like Maangchi does in the video, but for a bit less time before you start salting, it will turn out fine.
At least, that’s what I did.
Both recipes look very B.B! :D
Where did you get the idea of making a cashew sauce? That’s very unique!
I’m going to have to try both recipes soon!
My friend Lily had some collard greens growing in her garden the last time I was at her house when we made Kimchi together. I’m going to see if we can try making this recipe together. It looks really delicious. I’d probably prefer the Korean taste version. I don’t really like the cashew’s flavor.
I’ll send you some photos when I make it!
~Will
When you rinsed the collard greens in the cold water I was reminded of your naengmyeon video when you rinsed the noodles. It sounded just the same! I can’t wait to try this!
That looks delicious and I love the way you show us how to plate them with your ojingajyut.
I think you can use this recipe on most all stalky green vegetables. Is that right?