RECIPE: Creamy Senposai and Optional Chicken Stew

There is SENPOSAI in the farm store!!!  

I LOVE senposai!  Described as a "cross between cabbage and komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach)", senposai, which translates as Thousand Wonder Vegetable, tastes more like sweet cabbage than mustard greens or spinach.  

It looks like a smaller version of collards, which makes it easy to wash and de-rib, but it cooks MUCH faster, in minutes as opposed to half an hour, and it's more toothsome than spinach or other salad greens.  I use it wherever I might otherwise use spinach or kale.  It freezes beautifully, both raw and blanched.

 

Here's a recipe I concocted for dinner tonight using as many farm-store vegetables as possible.  It's sort-of an UN-recipe because you can substitute most of the ingredients for something else.  It uses only one pan and it's ready in 10 minutes, once you've done all the prep.  I had dinner on the table in 30 minutes!

Creamy Senposai and Chicken Stew

Serves 4 

Ingredients

•  4 T. bacon fat, lard, or ghee (I used ghee made from farm milk)
• 1 c. chopped onions (I used green onions from the farm store, both the green and white parts)
• 3 cups chopped senposai (I remove the ribs, slice thinly, then cut into 1" pieces)
• 2 cups cooked chicken, cut or torn into small pieces OR 3 additional cups chopped senposai
• 2 cups liquid - broth, milk, or water (I used chicken broth, made with farm chickens)
• 3 T. flour (I used sweet rice flour)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I used gouda, but any melting cheese will work)
• 1 t. Himalayan pink salt
• 1/2 t. cayenne (optional, or you can use freshly ground black pepper)
• 1/8 t. freshly grated nutmeg or 1/4 t. ground nutmeg
• Chopped chives and chive blossoms for garnish (or sage blossoms).

Melt 1 T. fat over medium heat and saute the onions until translucent; 4 minutes for yellow onions, 1 minute for green onions.

 

Add the senposai and saute until wilted but still bright green, 1-2 minutes.  Remove to a bowl and reserve.

 

Melt the remaining 3 T. fat over medium heat and stir in the flour.  Whisk until medium brown, about 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and add the liquid, stirring vigorously with the whisk to prevent lumps.  Raise heat to medium and cook until thickened, about 3 minutes.

Stir in chicken and cheese, then stir until the cheese melts, about 1 minute.  Don't raise the heat or the cheese will separate.

Add the seasonings and stir to combine.

Add the reserved senposai and stir until heated through.  If it's too thick, add a little water.

Serve, garnished with chives and their blossoms.

You can serve this over toast (creamed chicken on toast), or with rice or pasta, but they're no longer part of our diet so we ate it neat/Paleo as stew.  We both went back for seconds!  If you replace the chicken with senposai, you can serve it as a side dish.

Here are some additional senposai recipes you can try:

• Kielbasa, senposai and aduki bean soup 
• Curried senposai with haloumi paneer 
• Pasta with senposai, feta and olives 
• Senposai, daikon and chili garlic chicken wraps (using RAW senposai!)
  
• Pan fried noodles with senposai and tofu (use haloumi or feta instead)