My New Favorite Vege

Every time I want to make a salad, I would usually buy the pre-washed lettuce/salad greens from the supermarket. After a while, those greens became sort of boring.

I have heard of kale and have seen salads and cooked dishes that have kale in them. My impression of kale is that it is a cousin of kai lan and the thought of eating a kai lan-like vegetable raw did not seem appealing.

Then on a visit to Goodness Greens, my partner ordered the Kale Quinoa Chicken Salad. This salad is dressed in a roasted sesame dressing and finished with a squeeze of lime juice.

Oh my, it was delicious (yes, due to the dressing) and kale did not seem that unpleasant after all. After that I went to the supermarket looking for kale and had my first salad with kale mixed with some other vegetables.

This time, I made a salad primarily with kale with an addition of carrots and green and red peppers. As kale is quite tough, it helps to toss the kale with your hands and gently "massage" it to soften the leaves. This also helps the dressing to adhere better to the greens.

I am sure you have seen foreign chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver toss salads with their bare hands. It's a good way to toss your salad because you can feel how well your salad is dressed. In fact my grandaunts and grandma used their bare hand to toss kerabu back in the old days.

To make the dressing, I put crushed garlic, black pepper, honey, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar and olive oil into the blender and gave it a good whizz. These days, this is my preferred way of making dressings as the dressing becomes nicely emulsified and thick.

This salad can be tossed ahead of time and stored in the fridge since kale is quite robust and won't go limp like lettuce. In fact, it benefits from sitting and becomes softer and easier to eat.

Kale Salad

Recipe source : Phong H0ng

Ingredients :

- 150g kale, thinly sliced

- 1 small green capsicum, thinly sliced

- 1 small red capsicum, thinly sliced

- 1 red onion, thinly sliced

- 1 small carrot, use vegetable peeler to slice into ribbons

Dressing

- 1/2 cup olive oil

- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

- 1 clove garlic, crushed

- 1/2 tsp sea salt

- 1 tsp dijon mustard

- 1 tbsp honey

- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

Method :

1. To make the dressing, put all dressing ingredients into a blender and blend until emulsified.

2. Place all salad ingredients into a bowl and toss with dressing.

3. Use your hand to gently massage the kale leaves to soften it.

4. Serve immediately or may be tossed in advance and stored in the fridge.