Recipe: Southern Greens and Peanut Sauce

GREENS AND PEANUT SAUCE

FOR THE GREENS:
1 bunch greens (collard, kale, chard, turnip greens, beet greens,
mustard greens, or your favorite)
3 1/2 to 4 cups water
1 small dried hot pepper optional)
Small handful chopped dried dulse* (optional)
2 to 2 tablespoons tamari sauce
FOR THE PEANUT SAUCE:
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
3 tablespoons rice vinegar (or Chinese black vinegar)
2 tablespoons tamari sauce**
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 large clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
FOR SERVING:
Juice of 1 lemon, (or 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, Chinese black vinegar or hot-pepper vinegar)
Salt and pepper to taste

TO PREPARE THE GREENS:***
Cut stems off greens. Discard stems and wash leaves well to remove all grit. Chop greens lengthwise a couple times, then cut across in 2-inch strips.

Put 3 cups water in pot and bring to a boil. Add greens, in batches if necessary, pushing them down into the water as you go. Add hot pepper and chopped dulse, if desired.

Cover and simmer 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on type of greens and how well-cooked you like them. Halfway through the cooking, add 1/2 cup to 1 cup water and the tamari sauce, and toss well.

Heap greens into a serving bowl and drizzle with lemon juice, rice vinegar, black vinegar or hot-pepper vinegar.

TO PREPARE THE PEANUT SAUCE:
Put all the sauce ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Serve over the hot greens.

*Dulse is a seaweed sold in health-food stores and approximates the salt-pork taste in classic Southern greens.

**Tamari sauce, similar to soy sauce, is sold in the Asian sections of supermarkets.

***TO COOK GREENS IN AN ELECTRIC SKILLET:
Start skillet at 300 degrees F. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, greens, water, tamari, and hot pepper and dulse, as directed above. Cover and cook, reducing heat to 225 degrees after 15 minutes. Check periodically to make sure water has not evaporated, adding a little water if necessary. Greens will cook faster this way, in no more than 45 minutes. Add lemon juice or vinegar to cooked greens and serve with peanut sauce.

Makes 3 to 5 large servings
Adapted from source: Cookin' Southern Vegetarian Style by Ann Jackson