An easy and delectable way to eat nutritious collard greens!
Collard greens are nutrition powerhouses with very few calories, so I wanted to find a way to enjoy them. This vadi mimics the alu vadi or patra made out of colacasia leaves. This scrumptious, low-fat, higher protein filling makes it a winner in my book!
The plain nonfat yogurt and gram flour in my recipe ups the protein content and needs just a teaspoon of olive oil in the filling, for over 50 vadis!
So here is the step by step-
I removed the stems and trimmed the thick central vein at the back of the washed collard green leaves. I blanched them for about 10 seconds in boiling water and then put them in ice water.
Then, as in the photos below, going clockwise from the upper left, 1. I arranged 4 leaves overlapping each other, step 2, spread the filling over them, arranging 4 more leaves over it and 3.repeated the process twice again. Total leaves used per roll 12. The last picture shows how I rolled the collard green rolls.
I steamed both the rolls for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool, slice and they can be eaten as is, or topped with a tempering or shallow fried with the tempering.
They are great to serve as appetizers for a party, with or without the tempering and shallow frying. They taste delicious in all forms, so all the guests can enjoy… even the ones watching their weight 🙂
Savory Collard Green Vadi
Ingredients-
- 1 big bunch of fresh collard green leaves
For the filling-
- 1 cup besan or chick pea flour
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh gingerroot
- 1 teaspoon grated garlic
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder(or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon roasted cumin seed powder
- 1 teaspoon roasted coriander seed powder
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ ~ 1 teaspoon amchur /dried mango powder, depending on how sour the yogurt is.
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- About 2 tablespoons water, if needed, for batter to be of spreading consistency
For the tempering-
- 1 teaspoon oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon sesame seeds
- ½ teaspoon poppy seeds
- 2 dried red chillies
- 1/8 teaspoon asafetida
To make the Collard Green Vadi-
- Wash the collard green leaves. Remove the stems and trim the central thick vein behind the leaves, taking care that the leaves don’t rip.
- Boil a large pot of water. Add the leaves, in batches, for about 10 ~ 15 seconds each. Remove with tongs, and drop them in a pot of cold ice water. Remove and set aside on a kitchen towel.
- Simply combine all the ingredients for the filling. The batter should be of spreading consistency like dosa batter but not runny.
- Lay out 4 leaves of the collard greens, face down and overlapping, as shown in the photo. Spread the batter
- Repeat step 4 twice again on top of the first layer. Total leaves used 12 with 3 layers of leaves and 3 layers of filling.Repeat steps 4 and 5 for another roll.
- Roll as shown in pictures and steam, seam side down, for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool and cut in slices about a 1/4 inch thick, and serve as is, or covered with tempering or shallow fried. they also taste good with Mango and Red Pepper Chutney.
Note:
- The vadis can be made in advance and warmed up or shallow fried later.
- The rolls can be frozen for use later too. Just defrost and proceed to warm them up, cover with the tempering or shallow fry..
Enjoy the weekend!
Love,
Sandhya
Healthy food! Thank you for the inspiration, Sandhya! Have a nice weekend 🙂
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Thank you Indah! Wishing you a great weekend too.
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One of my favorite greens!
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They are in season now , right? I could not resist a fresh big green bunch at the grocery store.
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You have given an awesome twist to Aloo vadi Sandhya!
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Thanks so much! Collard greens are in season and I could not resist a fresh big green bunch:)
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Beautiful healthy twist to the regular vadis or pakodis Sandhya! Brilliant!
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Thank you so much Ana! They are so versatile that they can be used as appetizers or pakodis in curry or kadhi too.
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Lovely. I have made these with Palak as well. 🙂
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Thanks Aruna! I bet the palak tasted delicious, but for a lazy gal like me, the bigger the leaves the better:) Collard greens are in season now and could not resist a big green bunch:)
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Such an original idea! Looks so very tasty! 🙂
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Thanks Ronit. Yes it is very tasty and very versatile. they can be added to curries too.
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Lovely share
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Thanks Preethi!
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Lovely.. with palak also it’s delicious
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Thanks Ruchi. Yes I am sure it will be delicoius with palak, but for a lazy gal like me, the bigger the leaf the better:)
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Ha have u and lazy… then how these many delicious posts ??? 🙂 🙂 🙂
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😉
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What a unique way to make collard greens. I have never been a big fan, but I think I could eat them this way. Nice healthy and delicious recipe Sandhya!
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Thanks Antonia.
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Healthy and flavorful recipe
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Thank you Beena!
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Healthy and flavorful recipe
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Thanks Beena. I liked your post on tahini. It is very helpful to know how to make it at home.
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I liked your detailed and easy explanation of the recipe. This is a traditional Maharashtrian snack that I love to eat. A little sourness added to the batter works wonders for this recipe.
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Thanks Rahul. Yes adding the yogurt helped with the sourness and also with keeping it low fat.
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Thanks Rahul. Yes adding the yogurt helped with the sourness and also with keeping it low fat.
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This sounds delicious. I like the ingredients of the filling, Sandhya. I will share with my daughters! ♡♡
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Thank Robin. I hope your daughters like it as much as I do.
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Woooow this is so tempting & drooling Spread, dearie Sandhya
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Thank you so much dear Linda!
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Love your version. Looks so flavorful and YUM!
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Thanks Kushi!
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yummy Sandhya, we in South Africa refer to this as ‘Patta’ 😉
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That is so interesting! Patta in Hindi is a leaf and leaves are used for this vadi!
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yep that is exactly what it is. Thank You for this recipe, would give it a try sometime;-)
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Do let me know how you like it Mariam.
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I always wanted to try this one,haven’t had this before…Looks so delicious….
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