In the Southern United States, mess o’ greens describes a mixture of bitter, sweet, and strong greens like kale, chard, beet greens, mustard greens and collards, a bunch of yummy greens, sometimes cooked to death with a ham hock or some bacon.
This mess o’ greens is vegetarian, in fact vegan, glazed with a Chinese-style sauce.
You can dress up pretty much any combination of vegetables—feel free to come up with your own blend. This week we found mess o’ greens in our Ranui Gardens CSA box so…
Have all of the ingredients ready before you begin to cook, arranged near the stove in the order they go into the pan. I like to use my wok, though a heavy fry pan is just fine. To serve, ladle the greens and sauce over rice or noodles or Parsley Quinoa and Brown Rice Pilaf.
At least one pound mess o’ greens or other greens
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted until liquid
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1-inch chunk fresh ginger, peeled and grated
¾ to 1 cup vegetable stock
1 to 2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin (rice wine)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon arrowroot
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoons lightly toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Trim and discard the stems from the greens. Coarsely chop the greens into strips, about one inch wide.
In a small bowl, add the garlic and ginger to the coconut oil.
In another bowl, combine the vegetable stock, soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, sesame oil and red pepper flakes, if using.
Dissolve the arrowroot in the water. Keep a spoon handy so you can stir it again just before adding to the vegetables.
Heat the wok on high heat. Add the oil-garlic-ginger mixture, then immediately add the greens. Stir and fry, tossing with wooden spoons, for just a minute.
Add the liquid mixture and bring to a boil, tossing everything continuously. When the greens are wilted but still bright in color, add the arrowroot mixture. Stir about a minute or so, until the sauce thickens.
Pour into a serving dish. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, if using.
Makes 3 to 4 servings, depending on how much mess o’ greens you had to begin.
- You can substitute cornstarch for the arrowroot. Know that arrowroot, from a tropical tuber, is high in minerals while cornstarch has little nutritional value.
Muffin Talk 