Young Swiss Chard with Sesame Seeds

Recipe Author: Conne Ward Cameron

From World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey

Serves 4

This is one of my winner dishes for potlucks. The dish always comes back empty. Granted, the recipe calls for young leaves, but I’ve never differentiated the age of my Swiss chard, and never had complaints. Now that I look at the recipe, I don’t remember doing anything other than washing, chopping and steaming my chard before dressing with the sauce. The sauce is the money here anyway.

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds young Swiss chard, well washed but left whole 2 tablespoons soy sauce 2 teaspoons sugar 2 tablespoons oriental sesame oil 2 tablespoons roasted and very lightly ground sesame seeds 1 ½ tablespoons Chinese ShaoHsing wine or dry sherry

Preparation:

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Drop in the chard and bring back to a boil. Cover partially and boil rapidly for 3 to 4minutes, or until the stems are just tender. Drain and rinse under cold water. Squeeze out as much water as possible and put the chard in a bowl. Separate the leaves, which will be like strands now. Combine the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and wine. Mix well. Pour the dressing over the chard and toss to mix. Serve at room temperature or chilled.