Collard Greens Wrap
10 minutes
to prep
20 minutes
to cook
1 wrap
About this Recipe
A simple yet flavorful dish with yams and collard greens—two Soul Food stars!
Recipe Courtesy of Dave Williams
Photo Courtesy of Kennedy Little
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 large leaf collards per wrap
- ¼ sweet potato or yam, thinly sliced crosswise
- ¼ apple, thinly sliced crosswise to get a round shape
- ¼ cup red, orange, or/and green bell pepper (chopped)
- ¼ cup your favorite mushroom (chopped)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash the collard leaves with water or a vegetable wash.
- Put collards in 2 to 3 cups of water or enough to cover the leaves in a large pot. With the lid on, bring to a boil, then cook covered at low heat for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Turn leaves 1 or 2 times to make sure leaves are cooked through. Test for softness after 10 minutes and regularly as you get close to the 15 to 20 minutes mark. They should be soft, but firm enough to wrap your ingredients and hold.
- Saute bell peppers and mushrooms adding the sweet potatoes/yams after 5 minutes or as the peppers and mushrooms soften.
- Sprinkle cinnamon on both sides of the apple and add to the mix. Flip the apple after 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to the mix to taste, one pinch of each at a time to start, adding more to suit your taste.
- Remove the leaves from the pot and put your leaf or double leaves on a plate. Cut the bottom part of the leaf off from the stem to make it easier to fold.
- Spread the sweet potatoes/yams, apple, mushroom, bell pepper mix across the leaf and roll from the top down. Adjust the quantity as necessary.
- Cover the mix with your favorite sauce and/or vegan cheese if desired.
- Fold the collards over the mix. Pin with a toothpick, if needed, to hold. Enjoy!
Notes:
- Greens are not like chard or lettuce. They have a tougher skin so don’t be alarmed if they need a little more time than my suggested cooking time.
- Sweet Potatoes/yams can be boiled separately instead of cooked in with the bell peppers and mushrooms if you prefer.
- Cooked rice and beans are a great addition to the mix, or in substitution of any of the other ingredients.
- You can save the liquid from the cooked collard leaves in step 3 to drink as juice or use as broth, it is very nutritious. In the days of chattel slavery and later sharecropping, this liquid was called “pot liquor.”
