Asian-Style Collard Greens
Collards cooked in dashi with a kimchi paste base taste nothing like traditional Southern collards - they're lighter but somehow more complex. The bacon still gives you that porky richness, but the bonito flakes and gochugaru take it somewhere completely different.
Ingredients
For the Dashi Stock
- 7 1/2 cups water
- 1 piece kombu 5x5 inch
- 2 1/2 cups packed katsuobushi bonito flakes
For the Kimchi Base
- 1 small medium yellow onion roughly chopped
- 1 large jalapeno roughly chopped
- Whites from 2-3 green onions
- 1 1/4-inch piece ginger peeled and chopped
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 1/2 tsp cane sugar
- 2 tbsp gochugaru
- 3 tbsp canola oil
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
For the Collard Greens
- 8 strips thick-cut bacon thinly sliced
- 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
- 2.5 lbs collard greens stems removed, leaves roughly chopped
- 5-6 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 2 1/2 tbsp mirin
- 2 1/2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp table salt plus more to taste
- 1/4 tsp cane sugar plus more to taste
Instructions
- Add kombu to water and bring to light simmer. Remove kombu when bubbles form.
- Turn off heat, add bonito flakes, steep 10 minutes. Strain to get 5 cups dashi.
- Blend onion, jalapeno, green onion whites, ginger, garlic, gochugaru, and sugar until paste forms.
- Cook paste in canola oil over medium heat until fragrant. Add fish sauce, then vinegar and soy sauce off heat.
- Cook bacon in Dutch oven until crisp. Remove bacon, reserve fat.
- Cook onions in bacon fat until translucent.
- Add collard greens in batches until wilted, then add garlic.
- Pour in dashi, bring to simmer. Cover and braise 1-2 hours until tender.
- Stir in 5 tbsp kimchi base, mirin, rice vinegar, salt, and sugar.
- Serve greens with braising liquid, topped with reserved bacon.
Notes
Adjust final seasoning with additional salt, sugar, or kimchi base to taste.
Did you make this recipe?Let me know how you liked it below!