Collard Greens and Cornmeal Dumplings
- Total Time
- 4 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 servings
- 2smoked ham hocks or 2 smoked turkey wings
- 2medium onions, quartered
- 4celery stalks, including leaves, halved
- 2carrots, scrubbed and quartered
- 2garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
- ½teaspoon black peppercorns
- 2dried bay leaves
- ½small onion, chopped
- 1garlic clove, minced
- 1large bunch (1 pound) collard greens
- 2small dried red chiles or 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
- Salt and black pepper
- ½cup all-purpose flour
- 1½cups coarsely ground cornmeal
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- 1teaspoon granulated sugar
- ¾teaspoon fine salt
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter
For the Smoky Soul Stock
For the Collards
For the Dumplings
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
364 calories; 11 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 52 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 16 grams protein; 620 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Make the stock: In a large heavy stockpot, bring 3 quarts water, the smoked meat, onions, celery, carrots, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and simmer, partially covered, until the flavors are well blended, about 2 hours.
- Step 2
Remove the meat from the broth. When cool enough to handle, pull the meat off the bones (discard the skin, fat, and bones). Chop the meat and reserve for another use. (The meat can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.) Use a fine-mesh sieve to strain the stock into a container. Refrigerate the stock until the fat floats to the top or skim the fat using a fat separator or spoon to use immediately. For chilled stock, use a slotted spoon to skim off the fat and discard. Pour out 6 cups stock to use; reserve the rest for another use in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
- Step 3
Make the collards: In a medium saucepan, bring the 6 cups stock, the onion and garlic to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, cover and simmer while preparing the greens.
- Step 4
Thoroughly wash the collards and trim away the stems, if desired. Discard the stems or coarsely chop. Stack 2 or 3 leaves on a cutting board and roll tightly into a log. Slice the greens crosswise into ¼-inch-wide ribbons. Place the greens and stems, if using, and the chiles in the broth and return to a simmer. Cook, covered, about 1½ hours for very tender greens; you may cook them for less time if you have young greens or prefer greens with more chew. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
- Step 5
About half an hour before the collards are done, prepare the dumplings: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Spoon out ½ cup of the potlikker from the collards and add to the butter. Remove from the heat and stir it into the dry ingredients, adding more potlikker 1 tablespoon at a time if needed for the dough to come together into a mass. Let stand 5 minutes. When cool enough to handle, use wet fingertips to shape the dough into 6 round dumplings.
- Step 6
During the last 15 minutes of the collards’ cooking time, carefully drop the cornmeal dumplings into the pot with the greens, making sure the dumplings are submerged in the potlikker. Cover the pot and simmer until the dumplings are cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve the greens and dumplings in bowls with plenty of potlikker.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Bo
Astrid you can use liquid smoke to taste instead of the animals, increase the amount of onions by half, reduce the pot liquor boiling off about a third of it in a separate saucepan (preferably cast iron) and adding the concentrated liquor back to collards, or at serving time. You won't miss the meat.
Valerie
I use chipotle to get the smoky taste.
Marianne in the Catskills
As a vegetarian, I highly recommend powdered mushroom stock for a decidedly smoky, umami flavor. You could use broth from reconstituted dried mushrooms of course (along with the mushrooms themselves), but the powder is much more intense. I've been using a Japanese variety made from shiitake that I get at the Milk St store.
Donna in Brooklyn
My guess is that it will come out fine without the animal products. Just use a regular vegetable stock in place of the "smoky stock.' You can buy ready-made veggie stock or make your own. As for the butter in the dumplings, I assume you can use oil instead since the recipe calls for melted better.
Annie
Astrid, if you are vegetarian (not vegan), I’d recommend adding a Parmesan rind to the broth to really amp the umami flavor. I prefer smoked salt over liquid smoke. Liquid smoke feels like eating a campfire (to me), whereas hickory smoked salt is a little more subtly smoky. I also use lots of onions, garlic, fresh bay leaves, fresh thyme, and Better than Bouillon vegetable bullion. This creates a super yummy broth. I then cover the whole dish with homemade pickled hot sauce.
Lyn
Very good as a dinner. Used a smoked turkey leg and left the cut up meat in the dish. Made as written, didn't have a full pound of collards so added some kale.
browning chicken
my dumplings came out really good — dense but not too dry. i think they worked because i made them smaller, as other commenters suggested. i also gradually added more hot liquid to the dough — it absorbed maybe a bit less than a cup - and let it rest before forming. dunking them under the broth and flipping them to make sure they got cooked all the way through also helped. and cooking them for longer than 15 minutes helped too.
Miss Parker
I just made Collard Greens for Christmas. I tried something new- I added an entire bulb of Black Garlic and WOW what flavor! I am Vegetarian, so this really kept it interesting w/o the meat.
Chuck
The flavor combination of collard greens and cornmeal dumplings is terrific but I would recommend making the dumplings much smaller. No one wants to eat a dumpling the size of a tennis ball. Try forming them about the size of an acorn or chestnut.
SG
The stock and collard greens were absolutely delicious. The cornmeal dumplings, though, were heavy as cannonballs. What did I do wrong?
Valerie
I made this exactly as directed and thought it was delicious.
David
I think the ratio of flour to cornmeal is off or maybe I made them too loose but the dumplings disintegrated as I was trying to serve the greens. Otherwise I really enjoyed this recipe. If you’re going to use a Chipotle for the smoke (I couldn’t find liquid smoke) leave out the chili flakes.
MB
Delicious. Made a few adjustments. Vegetarian, no ham hock. Two cups blanched collards in the freezer. Sautéed onion and celery. Added red pepper flakes, 1 carrot, garlic, 1-2 Tbsp tomato paste, thyme. Cooked a few mins to caramelize tomato paste. Added ~1/2 tsp mushroom powder. Added ~3.5 c water, 1/2 c brown lentils, bay leaf. Simmered 10 mins partially covered. Dropped in dumplings. Covered pot&cooked ~15 mins. Used white whole wheat instead of AP flour. Served 2, a lot but entire meal.
Haley
LOVED the concept of this and produced a delicious variation. Upon seeing mixed reviews of dumplings, used an old faithful version from Gourmet Magazine: 1 1/2 C all purpose flour, 1/2 C yellow cornmeal, 1 1/2 C half and half, 1 tsp salt. Perfect every single time!
Michael
If I could have spoken with my younger self I would have said "Stop! Don't make these dumplings. Make a nice cornbread instead!" Then I would have said to use the NYT low country collards recipe instead of this one to make the collards.
Debbie
I followed the recipe except I subbed a turkey leg, added an extra Tbsp. of butter, and followed others' advice to make smaller dumplings. Oh, and I also added the meat. Such a wonderful, satisfying dinner. Thank you!
browning chicken
my dumplings came out really good — dense but not too dry. i think they worked because i made them smaller, as other commenters suggested. i also gradually added more hot liquid to the dough — it absorbed maybe a bit less than a cup - and let it rest before forming. dunking them under the broth and flipping them to make sure they got cooked all the way through also helped. and cooking them for longer than 15 minutes helped too.
Alan
Agree that the dumplings were large. Will make them smaller next time. Maybe a touch less heat, with hot sauce and vinegar on the table in the traditional style.
MDelia
IMO Dumplings were a bit too toothsome. Very hard. I used Bob's medium grind cornmeal, not the coarse called for in the recipe. Should not have affected texture. If you are not a vegetarian, then ham hock broth is some of the most collagen-rich, protein-rich broth you can get, lovely in the winter. I always leave the meat in, a matter of taste. A lot of people are thinking bone broths this winter. Immune boosting?
Marty
Re “toothsome”: I do not think it means what you think it means.
Lyn
Very good as a dinner. Used a smoked turkey leg and left the cut up meat in the dish. Made as written, didn't have a full pound of collards so added some kale.
SG
The stock and collard greens were absolutely delicious. The cornmeal dumplings, though, were heavy as cannonballs. What did I do wrong?
Chuck
You didn’t do anything wrong. Try making the dumplings smaller, about the size of walnuts. They stew in the broth and thicken the gravy.
Valerie
I made this exactly as directed and thought it was delicious.
Nancy
Wonderful New Year's Day dinner with Black-Eyed Peas. The dumplings were firm but light with lovely, subtle flavor. I liked them as much, in their way, as cornbread and appreciated fewer calories and less fat. Thank you, Chuck, for suggesting making smaller dumplings. I cooked the collard greens about half as long as the recipe specified, and they were perfectly cooked to my taste. The dish reheated successfully in the microwave with the dumplings holding their shape and texture.
scarpet
Veggie sans pork, use 2 tbsp of red miso paste and 1 tbsp EVOO in place of meat. Instant pot stock, high pressure 40 minutes. Collards - instant pot 5 minutes high pressure. Made the dumplings separately, simmered them in extra stock for 15 minutes. Also halved the dumpling amount and made them smaller (had a total of 8 dumplings). Added a pad of butter and some lemon to finish.
Casper Pike
Followed recipe as is. Used pressure cooker to make stock 80min natural release. Fat separated and chilled. Blob of jelly this morning. You want to get the batter the consistency of Play Dough. Good flavor (fantastic stock recipe, also great greens). I cooked greens for 2hr, buttery smooth. Dumplings OK, although I prefer the buttery, gritty mouth feel of cornbread. Plus there are always cold leftovers with honey on top!!
ph
the dumplings were quite dense and dry, is there an ingredient missing, like an egg? I thought matzoh balls would be better than this, maybe they would have been better if the dough was divided into 12 portions instead of 6 as one reviewer suggested.
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