An easy peasy lemon squeezy kale salad. It is quick and delicious and hands down the most enjoyable way to consume an entire bunch of kale. Sorry about the crappy picture, next time I'll try to remember to remove my florescent orange running gear before taking photos - who knew it could cause such a reflection!
I know that every time I post a new kale salad recipe I tell you that it’s the best kale salad recipe ever, so telling you that again now might seem a little trite, but it’s true! This salad has it all: sturdy greens that won't wilt and a spicy peanut dressing that'll steal the show. Chop kale, mix dressing, and toss. Boom! That's it.
The original recipe called for lacinato kale, also known as dinosaur kale, but any kale would do. I used curly kale and it worked just fine. Note that I didn’t have any walnuts so I skipped them. Also I didn’t have any pomegranate molasses, or molasses of any kind, so I substituted with brown sugar.
We also like to omit the mint, saute the kale in some olive oil and then top with the peanut dressing.
Kale & Mint Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing
1 bunch (large) kale, chopped very small, almost minced
1 cup fresh mint, minced
1 cup walnuts, chopped
For the spicy peanut dressing
3 tablespoons smooth natural peanut butter
3 tablespoons warm water
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
Toss the chopped kale, chopped mint and the walnuts together. If you haven't made the dressing yet, do that next.
Put the peanut butter, warm water, garlic, rice wine vinegar, pomegranate molasses, soy sauce, minced ginger, sesame oil and red chili flakes into a blender and whirl away at high speed until everything is smooth.
Toss the dressing with the salad. Maybe not all at one time. Pour and toss about half of the dressing and then decide if it needs more.