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Couve à mineira
Garlicky collard greens shredded hair-thin and flashed in the pan
Couve à mineira, from Minas Gerais, is the bright green side dish that goes with feijoada, tutu and plain rice and beans all over Brazil. Collard greens are rolled up like a cigar, sliced into fine ribbons and cooked for barely two minutes with garlic, so they stay vivid, tender and slightly crunchy. Chef's tip: the knife work is the whole recipe. Slice the rolled leaves as thinly as you possibly can (Brazilian cooks aim for threads 1–2 mm wide), then cook them fast over high heat with the lid off. Thick strips or a covered pan give you dull, soggy greens.
- Total time
- 11 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
Method
0/4 doneStep 1: Wash and dry the 10 ½ oz collard greens (couve) well; wet leaves steam instead of frying. Cut out the thick central stalk from each leaf.
Step 2: Stack 4–5 leaves, roll them up tightly from the long side like a cigar, and slice across as thinly as you can with a sharp knife. Fluff the ribbons apart with your fingers.
Step 3: Heat the 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan or wok over a medium heat and add the 3 garlic cloves. Stir for 30–60 seconds, until it's pale golden and smells nutty. Don't let it brown or it turns bitter.
1 minStep 4: Turn the heat to high, add all the greens and toss constantly for 1–2 minutes, just until they turn bright emerald and wilt slightly but still have some bite. Sprinkle with the ½ tsp salt at the very end (salting earlier draws out water) and serve straight away.
2 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 80 kcal
- Protein
- 2 g
- Carbs
- 5 g
- Fat
- 7 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does couve à mineira take?
- About 11 minutes in total: 8 minutes to prepare and 3 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of garlic cloves?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
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