Savory Southern Turnips and Collard Greens
1 large purple-top turnip
1 bunch collard greens
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
4 tablespoon liquid smoke
2 tablespoon canola oil (or 1T canola and 1T red pepper infused olive oil)
red pepper flakes (if you use straight canola)
dash paprika
fresh ground pepper
sea salt
These are even better than the collards and turnips I remember from down South -- but without the traditional pork ingredients. Serve with vegan cornbread or rice for a full southern meal.
Cube turnip - not too small (I do about 1 1/2 inch cubes).
Prepare collards by chopping off thick end stems and slicing into large sections.
Sautee onion in oil until slightly wilted.
Add garlic and stir around until both are more wilted.
Add 2 teaspoons of liquid smoke.
Immediately add turnips. Stir fry for about 5 to 10 minutes, while adding paprika, cilantro, red pepper flakes, sea salt, black pepper.
Add 2 more teaspoons of liquid smoke, 1/4 cup of water, stir a bit.
Immediately place collards in the pan. Dont stir. Just lower the heat, cover, and let them steam on top of the turnips for about 30 minutes, or until turnips are tender. (Its best if you leave the cover in place the whole time, so the smoke flavor doesn't get out. I'd rather overcook than let that good smoke flavor get away!)
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I was looking for a vegan collards recipe and came across this one. I've never used liquid smoke or red chili pepper infused olive oil, but I decided I would follow the recipe closely so I bought them. I'm so glad I did! Everyone loved it!! The things I changed: the way I cut the turnips (I had small ones, so I sliced them instead of cubed), and the quantity of collards (I used 4 plants worth of collards, maybe equivalent to two grocery store bunches). I will definitely make this again! NOTE: Watch out for the typo in the ingredient list! It calls for 4 Tablespoons of liquid smoke, but you will only use 4 teaspoons if you follow the instructions! 4 Tablespoons would be massively too much. I used Wright's Hickory brand.
Made these last night with some black eyed pea soup. Kept everything the same except didn't uses as much oil and used olive oil instead of canola. I also didn't use as much liquid smoke, I also added a little bit of apple cider vinegar since I love it in collards. The turnips complimented the greens so well, beautiful to look at and eat.