Sunday 24 September 2006

leaf·y green

I have no idea what this leafy green vegetable is called. It is very similar to curly kale, but not as curly, and also not as green. It has the same tough leaves that do not disintegrate and let out water like spinach or silver beet, but also not as tough, but I don't think you could eat them raw. It has a tough stem to each stalk with the edible leaves attached sporadically along the length.

A bunch of this has been in our organic vegetable box for the last few weeks. Being a big fan of curly kale, I have been loving seeing the bunch of purple and green appearing in the box.

I have been cooking this vegetable like this :

Wash and strip the leaves from the stalk, tearing into bite sized pieces. Heat a wok, a when hot add a small amount of peanut oil. Add some chopped garlic and chilli, stir-fry briefly then add the leaves. Continue to stir fry until bright green and tender. Serve sprinkled with some toasted sesame oil and salt and pepper.

Makes a lovely start to a meal!

2 comments:

Haalo said...

I finally got a name for this at the market - it's Russian Red Kale.

Emma said...

Thanks so much Haalo!
Scott - I do think it would be delicious fried in butter.