Up until this past week, I would’ve read the title of this post and immediately written it off because there couldn’t be any possible way you could replace the deliciously smoky fatty bacon and pork that belong in collard greens. I can now confirm that vegan collard greens are possible and just as delicious as the meaty version. We made our own stock, but I honestly think you could get away with a strong bouillon version and be just fine.
Stock – simmer for at least an hour
- 1-2 pieces of Kombu
- couple dashes of soy sauce
- 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 1 large onion – roughly chopped
- 2 leeks – greens only
- 2 bay leaves
- parsley and thyme (fresh or dried)
- 12 ish oz of dried mushrooms – shiitake work well
- enough water to cover by an inch
Prep
- couple glugs of olive oil
- 1 sweet onion – roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic – minced
- the reconstituted mushrooms pulled out of the stock and chopped up
- soy sauce
- miso
- smoke powder
- smoked paprika
- salt
- pepper
- collard greens – 1 huge bunch or 2 small
Sautee all that deliciousness above til its smoky and soft. Add the stock, simmer for 20 minutes. Add the chopped collard greens, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes or til the greens are soft.
Add the soy sauce, smoke powder, and smoked paprika to taste. We upped the soy sauce and salt quite a bit since I think that’s one of the key seasonings that you typically get from meat.
We served ours with cornbread and some mashed potatoes and it was heavenly. Very very pleasantly surprised with how this turned out!
veronimama 