collard greens "sushi" bites

When I was little I remember my mom used to make several types of greens (keerai, in local language) - some pungent, some pretty bland, and some leaving me craving for more...

Greens, whether in salad, or cooked up as soup, or served as bite-size snacks, seem to be a favorite at home. So, for the JFI-WBB Going Green with Green Leafy Vegetables event, I thought it would be fun to cook up some Collard Greens in two simple ways, combining the ideas from two of my favorite bite-sized treats - viz., Dolma and Sushi .

Collard greens belong to the cabbage family and apparently have higher nutritional value when cooked than when raw due to the tough cell structure.

Good to know, because I am not sure I can eat collard greens raw :)

Dolmas are with grape leaves, stuffed and steamed; and sushi is with toasted nori, rolled up with cooked rice, among other things. Drawing inspiration from these, and knowing I like collard greens, I made one set of bite-sized treats with just rolled up cooked collards and the other set stuffed with flavored rice.




Ingredients
6-8 collard greens leaves
for the flavor sauce:
2-3 Tbsp Ponzu or soy sauce
2-3 Tbsp Tabasco® sauce
1 Tbsp chipotle sauce
for the flavored rice stuffing:
1 cup raw jasmine rice
¼ cup raisins and dry cranberries
2 Tbsp finely chopped walnuts
1 Tbsp Madras curry powder
salt to taste
water as needed

Preparation

Bring water to a boil in a large pot; remove the thick stalk^** from collard greens, cut the leaves roughly in half and drop them in boiling water; cover and cook till collard greens are just cooked - they change color and get quite soft; remove from water and drain
^**I usually save the stalk for using in sambar or curries; similarly with broccoli, when i meed to use only the florets, I save the stalk for other dishes :)

combine the Tabasco sauce, ponzu or soy sauce and chipotle sauce in a bowl, stir well and keep this sauce handy

In a plate, add some of the blended sauce from above, layer the drained collard greens on the plate, add splashes of the sauce, and another layer of collard greens and so on; leave it to marinate while getting the rest of the things ready

In a pot, combine 1 cup raw jasmine rice with 2½ cups water, some salt, curry powder, the dry fruits and walnut, cover and cook till rice is done; taste and adjust flavors, keep handy for stuffing

For the Collard Greens Bites: Layer about 3 or 4 of the marinated collard greens, roll into a tight cylinder/log while squeezing out any of the marinade; cut into bite sized pieces and arrange in a serving plate

For the Collard Greens Sushi/Wrap: Place a marinated collard green leaf on a plate, add some rice stuffing, wrap it tight as you would a dolma, or a burrito; cut on a bias if desired before serving

Serve at room temperature or cold.