Gomen (Ethiopian braised collard greens)

Recipe No.: W-78

InternationalEthiopian45 minServes 4

"Gomen" is the Amharic word for collard greens, and it is a pillar of the Ethiopian table. It is cooked slowly with onion, garlic and ginger until tender and deeply flavoured, and sits on the injera platter beside the lentil and chickpea stews, balancing their heat with its calm green taste. On fasting days it is cooked in oil, and on other days in spiced clarified butter. When it is cooked with pieces of beef it is called "gomen besiga".

Origin of the dish: Ethiopia — One of the Ethiopian fasting dishes, served as part of the mixed injera platter

Photo: Ayib and gomen.jpg by stu_spivack, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Ingredients for Gomen

• 700 gcollard greens (2 bunches), kale or Swiss chard, thick stems removed
• 1large onion, finely chopped
• 4 clovesgarlic, crushed
• 1 tbspgrated ginger
• 3 tbspvegetable oil, or niter kibbeh on non-fasting days
• 1–2green hot peppers, sliced (optional)
• ¼ tspturmeric
• 1 tspsalt
• ½ cupwater

Method

1. Wash the leaves well and cut them into thin ribbons.
2. Boil them in salted water for 8–10 minutes until tender (only 3 minutes if you use chard), then drain and press gently.
3. Heat the oil in a wide pot and stir the onion over medium heat for 8 minutes until soft but not browned.
4. Add the garlic, ginger and turmeric and stir for a minute.
5. Add the greens, peppers, salt and water, and cover the pot.
6. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes until the flavours are absorbed and most of the liquid is gone, and serve with injera.

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