Cumin-Tempered Mushrooms with Collard Greens and Chickpeas
Cremini mushrooms browned hard in cumin-scented oil with ginger, green chile, and turmeric, then collard ribbons wilted through with chickpeas, lemon, and toasted sesame seeds.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
I cook this on the nights when I want dinner to taste like it took real effort and I have about half an hour to give it. The technique is borrowed from a South Indian dry sauté, where whole spices go into the oil first and everything after them picks up that flavor. What makes it worth doing on a Tuesday is the mushrooms. A pound and a half looks absurd going into the pan and cooks down to something dense and savory, and once they have browned properly they carry the whole skillet. The collards and chickpeas are along for the ride, and the ride is a good one.
It eats deep and a little smoky, with heat that arrives late. The cumin seeds pop and turn nutty in the oil, the coriander goes citrusy when it is crushed rather than ground, and turmeric colors everything a warm yellow and tastes faintly of earth behind the rest. Collard ribbons keep a bit of bite even after they wilt, which is what keeps the pan from turning into a soft mass. The chickpeas go in near the end and sit in the hot oil long enough to blister, so some of them are creamy inside and crackly outside. Lemon at the very end sharpens all of it.
Eating a lot of the same things is the problem this solves. It is a full skillet for four, it holds up in the refrigerator better than most vegetable dinners, and it takes almost no planning because everything in it keeps. I make it with a can of chickpeas from the cupboard and whatever bunch of collards looked best. If you want it to stretch further, a bowl of brown rice or a warm flatbread underneath turns four servings into six, though I usually eat it straight from the skillet with a lemon wedge.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, wiped clean and quartered
- 1 large bunch collard greens (about 10 oz leaves), stems stripped out and leaves rolled and sliced into 1/2-inch ribbons
- 1 1/2 cups no-salt-added canned chickpeas (from one 15 oz can), drained and rinsed well
- 1 medium onion, halved and sliced thin
- 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger, from a 1-inch piece
- 1 green chile, such as serrano or jalapeno, sliced into thin rounds, seeds left in or out as you like
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed under the flat of a knife
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 3/4 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp lemon juice, from 1 lemon, plus wedges to serve
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Prep the greens and the mushrooms: Strip the collard leaves off their stems, stack them a few at a time, roll them into a cigar, and slice across into half-inch ribbons. Quarter the mushrooms, and do not wash them under the tap. Wipe them with a damp cloth instead, since mushrooms that go into the pan wet will steam rather than brown.
- Temper the spices: Set a 12-inch skillet over medium heat with the olive oil. When the oil shimmers, add the cumin seeds and the crushed coriander and swirl the pan. Within thirty to forty five seconds the cumin will start to pop and darken a shade, and the kitchen will smell strongly of it. That is the whole point of this step, so do not walk away from it.
- Brown the mushrooms hard: Add the mushrooms and the salt, raise the heat to medium-high, and spread them in as close to one layer as your pan allows. Leave them alone for four minutes. They will release liquid, and that liquid has to cook off before browning starts, so keep the heat up. Toss and cook another four to five minutes, until the pan is dry and the mushroom edges are deep brown.
- Add the aromatics and the turmeric: Push the mushrooms to the edges and put the onion, garlic, ginger, and green chile in the middle with the turmeric. Cook for two minutes, stirring the middle of the pan, until the garlic smells sweet and the turmeric has stained the oil yellow, then stir everything together.
- Wilt the collards and finish: Add the collard ribbons in two handfuls, tossing until each one collapses before adding the next, about three minutes total. Stir in the chickpeas and let them sit against the hot pan for two minutes to blister. Take the skillet off the heat, add the lemon juice, sesame seeds, and cilantro, and toss once. Taste, and serve with lemon wedges.
Variations
- Mustard seed and curry leaf: Add a teaspoon of black mustard seeds to the oil with the cumin, and a small handful of fresh curry leaves once the seeds start to pop. Both are traditional here and both change the dish more than their quantity suggests.
- Cauliflower in place of half the mushrooms: Swap half the mushrooms for small cauliflower florets, added to the pan first and browned for six minutes before the mushrooms go in.
- Lentils rather than chickpeas: Use a cup and a half of cooked brown lentils in place of the chickpeas, folded in at the end with the lemon so they stay whole.
- A tomato version: Stir in a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste with the turmeric and let it darken for a minute, which pulls the whole skillet toward something saucier.
- Finish with yogurt: A spoonful of plain yogurt on each serving, stirred in at the table, cools the chile and turns the pan juices creamy.
Storage & Leftovers
This keeps four days in a sealed container in the refrigerator and is one of the better vegetable leftovers I make. The mushrooms have already given up their water, so nothing goes soupy overnight, and the collards stay firm rather than sliding into mush the way tender greens do.
Reheat it in a dry skillet over medium-high for three or four minutes, spread flat and left alone for the first two so the edges catch again. The microwave will warm it through, but the browning you worked for goes soft. A fresh squeeze of lemon and a few more cilantro leaves wake it up either way.
It freezes for up to two months in flat, sealed portions, though the collards soften noticeably on thawing. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat in a hot pan rather than from frozen. If you know you are freezing half, hold back the sesame seeds and cilantro and add them fresh when you reheat.
Notes & Tips
- Wipe the mushrooms, do not soak them: Mushrooms drink water, and every drop they take on has to boil off before they can brown. A damp cloth takes off the dirt and leaves them dry.
- Listen for the cumin: The seeds tell you when the oil is ready. They pop, then smell toasty, then smell burnt, and there are only about twenty seconds between the second and the third.
- Crush the coriander, do not grind it: Coriander seeds cracked under a knife blade release a bright citrus note that the powdered version has mostly lost. Uneven pieces are exactly what you want.
- Give the collards two handfuls: The pan is full when the mushrooms come out, and dumping all the greens in at once drops the temperature and steams them. Half now, half when the first half has collapsed.
- Rinse the chickpeas properly: Run them under cold water until the water goes clear and the foam stops. It takes half a minute and it changes how the finished pan tastes.
- Lemon goes in off the heat: Acid added to a hot pan cooks off and turns flat. Off the burner it stays sharp, and that sharpness is what keeps a skillet this earthy from feeling heavy.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Mushrooms, collard greens, and chickpeas each do a different job in this pan. The mushrooms give it savory depth and body, the collards bring their sturdy dark-green leaves and the calcium they carry, and the chickpeas add fiber and enough protein to make the skillet eat like dinner rather than a side.
- Collard greens are the sturdiest of the cooking greens, which is why they hold their shape through a hot pan, and they are among the better plant sources of calcium along with vitamin K.
- Cremini mushrooms are mostly water until you cook it out of them, and what concentrates is glutamate, the savory taste that makes them so satisfying in a dish with no meat in it. They also carry selenium and B vitamins.
- Chickpeas bring soluble fiber and slow carbohydrate, and the blistered ones that sat against the hot pan are the best bites in the skillet.
- Cumin, coriander, and turmeric bloomed in oil at the start are where the flavor of this dish lives. Fat is what pulls the aromatic compounds out of whole spices, including the curcumin in turmeric, which is why tempering them first tastes so different from stirring them in at the end.
- As you eat, notice how differently the chewy browned mushrooms and the still-firm ribbons of collard land on your tongue, and let the sharp lemon at the end be a signal to slow down and check in on how full you already are.
Frequently Asked Questions
My mushrooms went gray and watery. What went wrong?
A crowded pan or a heat setting that was too low. A pound and a half of mushrooms needs a 12-inch skillet and a confident medium-high, and even then they will pool liquid for the first few minutes. Keep the heat up until that liquid has boiled off, and only then expect color. If your largest pan is a 10-inch, brown them in two batches.
Can I use a different green?
Yes, and the timing shifts with the leaf. Kale or mustard greens work directly in place of the collards and wilt a minute faster. Bok choy is good here too, though it holds more water, so give it an extra minute in the pan with the heat up. Tender leaves collapse too far and are better stirred in off the heat.
How hot is this?
Mild to medium as written, with one chile sliced in. The heat sits behind the cumin rather than on top of it. For more, use two chiles or leave the seeds in. For a version children will eat, leave the chile whole, cook it in the pan for the flavor, and lift it out before serving.
Do I have to use whole spices?
Whole is better here, because the tempering step is where most of the flavor comes from and ground spices burn in hot oil in seconds. If ground is what you have, use half the quantity, add it with the turmeric rather than at the start, and expect a rounder, less toasty result.