How To Cook Leafy Greens In 4 Easy Methods

There is a leafy green that gives a distinct and powerful taste to African cuisine. This leafy green goes by different names; leaf spinach, leaf amaranth, and leaf callaloo.

It has been used for hundreds of years in Africa as a replacement for spices and condiments that were introduced by colonialists from Europe.

To cook leaf spinach, you can either steam it or use the water boiling method.

How to cook leaf spinach in steam method?

Using the water-boiling method, this leafy vegetable will retain its nutrients because when cooking it in water, no heat transfer takes place. 

Therefore there won’t be any loss of nutrients found inside the leaf itself. The most common way to cook leaf green is by boiling it in salted water or soaking it in cold water and then adding salt to it.

How to cook leaf green using pressure cooker method?

If you are a good handyman with the kitchen, leaf spinach is easy to prepare without losing any of its nutrients. 

Especially if you have your own leaf sprouted where you can grow leaf spinach on your own at home.

• The first step will be washing leaf spinach leaves properly then cutting the leaf into small pieces before cooking.
• Once chopped, add leafy green vegetables to hot but not boiling water. 
• Let stand for about 45 minutes before the sound of heavy boilers is heard and stirring it continues until leafy greens turn soft when pierced with a fork or spoon.

When a burning smell appears steaming process is completed and leaf spinach can now be served with hot rice or bread.

11 Step by step how to cook leafy greens?

https://youtu.be/oJW4HAWAoT0

• Wash leafy greens thoroughly in running water to remove excess dirt from leaf spinach leaves.
• Rinse leaf spinach with cold water mixed with a bit of salt then drain leaf spinach well using colander or strainer before cooking leafy greens. This removes excess water found on leaf spinach before adding them into pot for cooking.
• After washing, leaf spinach should be cut into small pieces about 1/2 inch long.
• You can also slice leafy greens until they completely fit inside the pot you are going to cook in without having them overcrowd the pot. 
• The idea is to have no more than half of leafy green vegetable inside the pot because leaf spinach shrinks considerably when cooked leaving space between each leaf and the next one i.e 5 leaf spinach will shrink to 3 leaf spinach after cooking.
• Use a pot that can hold about leaf spinach, it has been found out that leafy greens are rich in nutrients and it is best to retain these nutrients during processing by retaining leafy green vegetable water content when boiling leaf spinach for about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of leaf you have chosen before boiling leafy greens.
• This may take some time but once this process is completed you should find out that leaf spinach has shrunk considerably inside your pot or pressure cooker (for leaf sprouter recipe).
• It is at this point you add either salt or hot pepper sauce to taste. However if using pepper sauce make sure it is not too spicy because leaf spinach tends to bland especially when leaf spinach is cooked for some time or days.
• Leaf spinach can be served with boiled eggs, rice and bread depending on how you want leafy greens to taste like.
• For example if leaf spinach is added to chicken rice it will give leafy greens a stronger taste and leaves a soft leaf after eating leaf spinach in your meals hence it is advised that leaf spinach be eaten with hot rice or bread (you don’t have to add salt or pepper sauce).
• If pepper sauce is added leaf spinach will become spicy but leaf sprouter recipe makes leafy greens soft leaving them tender enough to be consumed without adding any condiments such as hot pepper sauce because these vegetable are grown using clean water thus there are no dirts inside the leaf.

Which Method Of Cooking Leafy Will Have More Nutrients Value?

Eating leafy greens will help you to keep a healthy lifestyle but it is always important to cook leafy greens properly in order not to lose their nutrients if cooked using the water boiling method. Adding salt to leaf spinach instead of soaking in cold water for hours before cooking helps retain leaf spinach chlorophyll content thus making leaf spinach green even after being boiled in salted water. That is the reason why we add salt while leaf spinach is cooking in water, it helps leafy green retain its nutrients.

A Quick Way to cook leafy Greens

1. Trim off stem ends (and any wilted or yellow leaves); separate into sprigs along the main rib. Wash well and drain off excess water. Cut larger pieces lengthwise into 2-3″ sections and leafy greens smaller than 1″ in diameter into quarters.
2. Put leafs in a colander and sprinkle with 4 Tbsp salt, toss and set aside for 30 min.
3. Rinse leafies under cold water until they are no longer salty to taste.
4. Drain leafs well, put leafs in the pot, add water (see note below), bring to a boil, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes or less if leafs are very tender.
5. Take the pot off the heat, drain leafs briefly but thoroughly rinse them under tap water. Serve hot or cold cooked leafy greens right away, they don’t keep more than a day or two (they start going bad!). Because the inside moisture is released to the leafs when you mash them against each other and then it mixes with oxygen and makes leafy greens go bad.
6. Enjoy!!

“Kale: Kale leafs are mild tasting leafs. They’re extra good for leaflet vitamins such as vitamin A , vitamin C , and folic acids in them”, “Lettuce leafs: lettuce leaf is a common leafy green leaf, it’s very good source of Vitamin K and calcium ;”. leafy greens are rich in potassium too that helps to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of strokes.

We cover some green fruit juice helps to reduce weight. Check here.