Wednesday, November 19, 2008

COLLARD GREENS with CORNMEAL DUMPLINS'



Since I left you with a story yesterday that I'm sure you'll always think of when you hear the word's Hoppin John (I know I will) I'll just get right to the Greens and Dumplin's.


You'll need:
1 - 1/2 pounds collard greens
8 cups water
1 cup diced ham cubes
4 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Wash the collard greens and shake off excess water.


Trim the stalk and vein from each individual collard leaf.


Rough chop the leaves.

Lightly brown ham pieces in 1 tablespoon oil in medium pan over medium heat.


Add collard greens to pan with ham, add 2 tablespoons oil and saute over medium heat until green's are wilted down.



To pot with green's add the water, salt, pepper and the red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil then turn heat to low, cover and simmer about 45 minutes to 1 hour. When greens are good and tender add the dumplins'.



Cornmeal Dumplins'


1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
dash of black pepper
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 tablespoons canola oil

In medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients.

In small bowl, combine liquid ingredients.

Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stirrin' with fork just till combined.

Bring greens to rapid boil. This is important that the liquid is rapidly boiling and very hot. This is what cooks the dumplins' and makes them light and fluffy. If liquid is not hot and boiling the dumplins' will be doughy on the inside and soggy. This also works with regular flour dumplin's too.

When liquid is boiling drop small spoonfuls of dumplin' batter into greens. If you will dip spoon into a cup of water and shake off the excess water and then dip into dumplin'batter, the dumplin' will slide right off spoon into boiling liquid. This also works well for hush puppy batter.


Bring mixture back up to full boil, cover and turn heat to low. Cook, keeping lid on (no peeking) for about 10 minutes.


You can serve greens right along side a bowl of beans or like me, I just put them side by side in a bowl and let the bean and green juice mix together.


Whoo Wee! Good eatin' and no toads damaged.



3 comments:

Mary | Deep South Dish said...

I LOVE any kind of greens - can't get hubs to touch 'em though. He's not a big veggie eater at all in fact. I like the idea of the dumplings - never woulda thought of that! That Hoppin' John looks delish too! Thanks for sharin'.

Anonymous said...

That looks so delicious, but if I put that beautiful plate down along with a bowl of beans, well, you could probably run a hybrid on the gas I'd create!!! Really, though, your blog looks intriguing. And thanks so very very much from the bottom of my bayou heart for putting me on your blog list!!! I need to add one of those to my blog one day!
BW

muddywaters said...

I love collard greens, but I'm the only one in the family who eats them. I love the idea of a cornmeal dumpling. This is something I'm going to try soon. This week we're doing a ham and bean soup and I might do a few dumpling with the soup. I'll keep you posted on my efforts.

Thanks for sharing,
muddywaters