While this recipe doesn't feature mustard greens as the main ingredient, this soup made me a convert. It's surprisingly satisfying and flavorful and the colors make it attractive enough for company - yellow, orange, red and green.

Yellow Split Pea Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Mustard Greens

2 T Olive Oil
1 large onion – chopped

4 clove garlic – minced
2 t cumin

2 c dried yellow split peas
5 c water
4 c lo-salt chicken or vegetable broth

3 ripe plum tomatoes – seeded, peeled, diced
1 med. Sweet potato – peeled and cubed
½ lb. Mustard greens – coarsely chopped

Heat olive oil over medium heat, add onion, cook 4 to 5 minutes, until onion is soft. Add garlic and cumin, cook one minute more. Add split peas, water and broth, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cook about 1 hour until peas have broken down.

Add tomatoes, sweet potatoes and mustard greens, simmer until vegetables are tender – approx. 25 minutes. Season as desired with salt and pepper.

10 servings – 215 cal. 12 g. protein 3 g fat

I loved mustard greens. Grew up eating them. Sometimes I just like to steam them and dip them in soy sauce.

I use no liquid. I let the greens make their own liquid. Down South the liquid is called pot liquor. After I saute the onions and garlic I put the well washed greens in a big pot and put the lid on for about 10 minutes. They will cook down. I stir and put the lid back on for them to reduce some more. I mix them up and add sugar and a little red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir and continue to cook till done to taste.

I'm Chinese and my mom cooks mustard greens pretty often. She usualy just cooks it with olive oil and chopped garlic as you mentioned. Sometimes she'll simply cooks it in boiling water for a few minutes, then serve it with oyster sauce for dipping. This is how Chinese dim sum restaurants serve greens. The veggie has a slight bitter taste. But there's a Chinese saying, "Good medicine tastes bitter in mouth". So my mom always says the more bitter the veggie, the better it is for you.

Wow, I just did my groceries today, and actually saw these and wondered if they could be stirfried just like bokchoys or snowpea sprouts! The timing is great Elise! :) Thank you for this recipe, now I know what to do with them next week when I go.

Did the broth actually thicken once everything's cooked? I don't like it when I stirfry vegies and there's this bit of puddle, so I often add a teeny bit of cornflour. What do you think? Thanks again!

We just steam them, then serve with a splash of balsamic vinegar.

I've cooked greens four ways in the last three weeks - once returning to an old favorite that I call Ontario Greens but is really just greens with sour cream. Yum.

I have never tried mustard greens, but they look interesting. I did make bok choy once which was quite good.

I don't recall where the recipe came from, and it does pretty much erase the heathiness of the greens, but you saute them with mushrooms/garlic, add them to a bunch of ricotta and a few eggs, mix together, put in a pan, cover with crushed up crackers/breadcrumbs. It's really good, but it sort of goes overboard - ANYTHING would taste good in that dish.

Alanna - is Ontario Greens a name that you came up with or is that something more widespread? "Greens with sour cream" is one of our favorite ways of quickly dealing with a overload of greens, but we never had a name for it.

I've only made these once because my husband didn't like them. It was my first greens making experience, and I made them the same way you did but I also added a little oyster sauce. I served this with a Kylie Kwong shrimp recipe and I thought it was a really yummy meal! Curses, greens hating husband, curses!

I have cooked mustard greens they are very delicious and your recipe seems would taste very good. I'll have to try it! Some variations I follow to cook this: I crackle some mustard seeds and cumin seeds and add a green/red chilli to the oil before adding the garlic. Also I skip on the pepper. Thanks for posting this.

Sauteed in olive oil with chopped garlic, red pepper flakes and a splash of red wine vinegar at the end of the sautee time.

Don't forget to wash very, very well and remove tough stems.

(They are a nice addition to a stir fry too.)

I love all hearty greens, including mustard. I like to saute slivered garlic and chile flakes in olive oil then add the greens and some chicken broth. I braise till tender then add chopped olives, lemon zest and juice. I also like them in soup with sausage and beans.

We grew up eating mustard greens and turnip greens. Sometimes cooked alone and sometimes mixed. Love that greens flavor and never ever season with anything but a little bacon drippings and salt. Sometimes we sprinkle a little vinegar on after it is in our plates or sometimes sprinkle with a little hot pepper sauce. Of course we had green onions to eat with too and cornbread. Sometimes if we had both at the same time we mixed a little of the mustard greens in with leaf lettuce to make wilted lettuce. So good.

I grew up on them. Boil them with a ham hock, onion, salt and pepper. Yummy.

I like to braise them with sweet onions. Then I just drizzle good honey over them and season with salt and pepper. They are excellent on top of creamy polenta too!

I am a Yank who moved to Texas and fell in love with greens. I boil them (and not for too long) in a big pot with a smoked turkey leg and chopped onions. Then Tabasco when they come out (or vinegar if you don't like heat). My mouth is watering now.

Georgia,
That's what I'm talkin' about!

Saute onions, garlic, red pepper flakes with oil until onions have softened, add chopped mustard greens and cook until wilted. Add a 14-1/2 oz can of whole tomatoes (roughly chopped up), along with the liquid. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook about 10 minutes. Love this served over rice.

My dad's favorite greens, Elise.

I do love mustard greens on their own, but my favorite way of making them is with black-eyed peas with a ham hock, touch of onion, etc. Towards the end of the cooking time for the peas, just add the mustard greens and cook down. A little rice, Tabasco, and a cold beer and you are all set!

This sounds delicious.

I love spinach but have a hard time eating it straight-ahead cooked--it causes this unpleasant, mouth-and-teeth-coating, "furry" feeling that I can't stand. Spinach cooked with other things is just fine. I don't get the same effect eating things like collard greens, though.

Does anyone know if Mustard Greens will do the same thing?

I've got two recipes for mustard greens that I really love:

Bittersweet and Nutty Mixed Greens
http://straightfromthefarm.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/bittersweet-greens/

and

Curried Mustard Greens with Navy Beans
http://straightfromthefarm.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/curried-mustard-greens/

I love mustard greens, especially growing up on various chinese stir frys. Although one of my all time favorite is mustard green soup with tofu and left over bbq duck. Hmmm, just thinking about it makes me drool =)

Yumm, simple is the best way to prepare these.

My Italian mama used to make us mustard greens sandwiches when I was a kid; she just sauteed them in some olive oil and lots of garlic and put the greens between two pieces of crusty Italian bread - simple peasant food but oh so delicious! We used to pick them growing wild on the side of the road so it was a very cheap meal. Along with some good provolone cheese and some quality olives, you've got a wonderful meal. She also used to make spinach the same way. We didn't know how good we had it!

Super simple: Chiffonade the mustard greens and saute them in a rippin' hot pan with olive oil and salt until they are just wilted.Squeeze the juice of a lemon over them right at service. Maybe crack some black pepper on them. Maybe not.

Easy-peasy.

I just discovered my favorite way to cook mustard greens! I use the prewashed/cut 1 lb. bags.

Stir-fried Mustard Greens and Tofu
1 lb. bag mustard greens (stems sorted out)
2 TBSP soy sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar (a little less)
1 tsp chinkiang vinegar (a little less)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Shaoxing wine or sherry
Peanut oil: 1/4 cup (+\-) for tofu and 1 TBSP for stir-fry
1 shallot, coarsely chopped
1 inch piece ginger, finely sliced and coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 TBSP toasted sesame seeds
1 package extra-form tofu, cut into 1/2" cubes

Mix the vinegar, soy sauce and sugar together and set aside.
Add greens to boiling water and cook for 3-5 minutes. Drain and set aside,
Fry the tofu in batches (in Wok) in peanut oil and drain.
Add peanut oil to hot wok. Add shallot, ginger and garlic and stir-fry for up to 1 minute--do not burn. Add Shaoxing wine and stir a few times.
Add greens to wok and stir-fry until separated and heated through. Add soy sauce/vinegar mixture and stir-fry 1-2 minutes mixing well. Add tofu and stir a few times to reheat. Add sesame seeds and stir to combine well.
I served with short-grain brown rice.

My favorite way to prepare fresh mustard greens is to wilt them in 50/50 peanut/sesame oil along with garlic chives and toasted sesame seeds, then add a splash of balsamic vinegar to dress.

Mustard greens are one of my favorites. To me they taste like a less-bitter turnip green. I have come to appreciate that most vegetables taste better when cooked only a short time. Greens, however, are best when prepared the long, slow southern way with onions, some smoky ham and a hot pepper pod. Serve with a dash of vinegar.

I love adding mustard greens to soups, they go great with a potato and cheese soup, I just chopped them in large pieces and add them during the last minutes.

In Pakistan, these are called sarsoon ka saag,saag being the general term for all leafy vegetables. The staple way of making it is simple. Chop up the leaves, steam them till they are pretty soft, then you remove the leaves and blend them in a food processor, the paste is again transfered to the pot. Add spices. Roast for a bit. Just before serving, heat up a bit of butter, add dried red chillies (called baghar ki mirch here, have no idea what the english equivalent is), a few mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chopped garlic, and pouring it all over the greens.
Traditionally it is served with 'makayi ki roti' makayi being corn, roti being the south asian version of bread.

Georgia, I haven't had a wilted salad in so long I about died when I saw it! We used to call em "Kilt (kill't?) salads, and we would start by frying up a couple of slices of bacon, and then throwing in a bunch of leaf lettuce, mustard greens, sliced radishes and plenty of green onions in the still-very-hot and very bacon-y skillet, added an indecent amount of vinegar, and crumpled the bacon on top. Once the bacon was cooked crisp, the salad-cooking part would go so fast it was like a show to us kids, with liquid hitting the grease and steaming and hissing and spitting! That was the dish that meant it was fully spring, and it was the sort of dish one ate when they had no other plans for the next day or two...

Is this the same as Chinese mustard cabbage as I know of in Hawaii? We call it kai choy, that we eat cooked/blanched in a little water and a bit of garlic. Was an almost everyday dish by my mother.

In the south, we boil a couple of ham hocks for about an hour or until the meat is tender and falls off the bone. Remove the ham hocks, place the greens in the water and boil, but not too long. Add the pieces of ham back to the greens with some salt and pepper. Not too much salt because the ham hocks make the water salty. Serve with vinegar or tabasco for heat. I like to mix mustard and turnip greens.

I Like a combination of Mustard, Collard and turnip greens. I think the trio is superb because it combines the great flavor profiles of all three into one sumptuous plate of goodness! I have a recipe for my take HERE. Pop over and take a look if you'd like!

arielamandah - that is something that I find is specific to spinach. Try green or swiss chard instead. Very similar to spinach when cooked, but no weird film on your teeth!

I eat tons of chard and collards, but the last time I tried mustard greens they were so bitter! Maybe just a bad time of year. I'll definitely try them again because I trust you when you say they're good :)

I like to quickly blanche my greens in a little water with some ham stock for that smokey flavor. Takes 5 minutes to prepare. We eat them a few times a week. They're super good for you.

Our son has loved spinach since a baby. He now only eats Popeye brand canned spinach because he says it doesn't leave a film on his teeth and tongue. I can't swear to that since I will not eat canned spinach. It's so slimy to me.
Shenandoah, I think I'll be buying leaf lettuce and mustard greens when I go grocery shopping. Now I am hungry for the old fashion wilted lettuce salad. We make it pretty much the same except we add a pinch of sugar. Yum. I don't remember that eating it interfered with our plans though.lol

I made this last night. First time I've ever eaten mustard greens I believe, and it was delicious!

In the Philippines, we use mustard greens as avegetable addition to our sinigang soups ("sour" soups flavored with tamarind) including japanese daikon, long beans and tomatoes.