Chard Packets

Honestly, I don’t know which came first. I LOVE this recipe. I adore the creator’s photography. I am amused by their name — KrautKopf (cabbage head). And I was pleasantly surprised to find this couple lives in Berlin.

So, let’s talk about these adorable bundles of goodness I can’t wait to share with you. I have to admit, one look at the picture and I made a dash to Wheatsville to pick up rainbow chard — how could I resist? The remaining ingredients were items I keep on hand, so putting this together was simple.

I find these bundles so appealing because of the flexibility in the filling ingredients — if you haven’t noticed, I do like to change things up a bit! I can imagine using a base of black lentils or chickpeas. I also appreciate the ability to advance prep (even the night before) and choose whether I eat them hot or cold. I even considered baking them next time with a spicy tomato sauce drizzled over, and a bit of cashew cream.

This recipe makes a wonderful, plant-based dinner, full of alkalizing ingredients and complete with protein. Thank you Yannic and Susann of KrautKopf for sharing your talents!

Ingredients

• 10 big chard leaves with stalk
• 3 shallots
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 chili pepper
• Lemon juice
• 1/3 C (75 g) red lentils
• Vegetable stock
• 1 tsp za’atar
• 1 apricot (a few dried will do as well)
• 3/4 C (200 g) small tomatoes
• Parsley
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Sea salt
• Pepper

Directions

Thoroughly wash the chard. Remove stalks by cutting a wedge out of the leaves. Then dice the stalks. Also chop the shallot, garlic and chili pepper and sweat in olive oil, then add the chard stalks and stew for 10 minutes until they are done. Deglaze with lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.

Cook the lentils in vegetable stock according to package instructions. Slightly press with a fork and season with za’atar. Stone and dice the apricot and add to the lentils. Seed the tomato and chop the pulp into small pieces. Also chop some parsley and add with 1 teaspoon olive oil to the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and let it soak. Then drain the water of the tomatoes.
Blanch the chard leaves in a big pot of salted water, rinse with cold water, then drain well and dry.

Stuff the leaves with the individual components and fold to a packet and cord it. Fry shortly in olive oil. You can also eat the packets cold and if you mix the stuffings, you get a yummy salad! If you don’t like to cord the packets, just chop the leaves and add them to the stewed stalks.

Enjoy!

Adapted from KrautKopf

Originally posted April 27, 2015