Vegan Braised Collard Greens & Beyond Sausage

After spending 5 months vegan at the end of 2019, I came up with a few tricks to keep some of my favorite recipes on the menu. Kenyan Braised Collard Greens and Ground Beef has been one of my favorite recipes since I first came across it on SkinnyTaste’s blog. When I started eating vegan, I spent some time refusing to eat tofu, seitan, or any of the new artificial meat products. After a short period of time of near starving myself while learning how to prepare enough plant based food to fill my caloric needs, I decided to give them a try. I tried a few Beyond Meat products and realized their sausage and beef crumble would fit seamlessly into this recipe.

Must have been my years in Brooklyn that would lead me to turn a traditional East African dish into dish that could fit on a vegan menu! Anyway, this recipe makes approximately 4 servings as a main dish. Alternatively, I have used half the amount of sausage to lighten the recipe up and use as a side dish.

Ingredients

• 2 Beyond Meat Hot Italian Sausages
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1/2 Onion, chopped
• 1 Jalapeno, seeded and chopped (I also added a small red Fresno Pepper)
• 2-3 Garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 Large Bunch Collard Greens, cut into 1 inch strips
• 1/2 tsp Ground Pepper
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric
• 1 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 tsp Ground Coriander
• 28 oz. Canned Tomatoes
• 2 tsp Lemon Juice

Instructions:

Start by chopping the 1/2 onion, 1 jalapeno and 2-3 garlic cloves. I love garlic, so I usually go with 3 and the taste is still barely noticeable. Cut the 2 sausage links into bite size pieces (alternatively buy Beyond Beef Crumbled Feisty and use 1 cup of beef). Wash entire bunch collard greens and cut into approximately 1 inch strips. It will look like way too much, trust me you will need it all once wilted! Mix all spices together in a small bowl.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large pan. You can test the heat of the oil in the pan with a small splash of water. Once it sizzles when it hits the pan place onion in the pan and saute until soft (approximately 4 min). Add the garlic and jalapeno and saute for 1 min. Mix vegan ground beef and seasoning to the pan and cook for 6 min. Stir in collard greens and saute until it starts to wilt (approximately 4 min). I place an extra drizzle of olive oil while i stir in the greens. Finally, mix in diced tomatoes and stir to let everything cook together.

While cooling stir in 2 tsp lemon juice and season with salt and pepper and serve.