Massaged Kale Salad with Coconut Curry Dressing

Serves 4

Massaging the kale? Yes, try announcing in your home that you busy are massaging the kale, so dinner will be ready in a few minutes…..and yes there will be resentful comments from some members of the family….but these same disgruntled folks will not only be super happy when they eat the massaged kale salad, they will ask for it again and again 🙂 The massaged kale, the fresh summer vegetables and fruit and the coconut curry dressing make every bite of this salad memorable!

I got a mix of fresh baby spinach and kale leaves and used coconut oil, salt and curry powder for the massage. All you do is rub the leaves with this mixture for a few minutes and you will see the difference in the texture, aroma and the taste! I grew up eating coconut and foods made with coconut oil and absolutely love the flavor. But if you don’t, you can use extra virgin olive oil too.

For the coconut curry dressing, I put together ingredients that I love, and am very happy with the result. I am going to make a bigger batch next time because I was licking the plate clean 😉 For veggies and fruit, I used carrots, red cabbage, yellow peppers and grapes. Peanut butter and the toasted walnuts give the salad that extra oomph!

Ingredients –

For the dressing-

• 1 teaspoon oil
• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon urad dal
• 1/8 teaspoon asafetida (hing) powder
• ½ teaspoon red chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 big sized tomato, cut into chunks
• Sea salt to taste
• 1 cup water, divided
• 1 tablespoon smooth creamy peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• Juice of ½ lime
• 1 tablespoon coconut milk powder

For the kale massage- 1 teaspoon of coconut oil combined with sea salt and ½ teaspoon curry powder.

For the salad – Baby kale and spinach leaves, yellow pepper, carrots, red cabbage, grapes, toasted walnuts.

To make the dressing-

1. Heat the 1 teaspoon oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and urad dal. When the seeds begin to splutter and the urad dal is a golden brown, add the asafetida, chili and turmeric powders and stir for a few seconds, taking care not to burn it.
2. Add the tomato chunks and the sea salt and stir fry it over the spice mixture for a minute or so.
3. Add ½ cup of the water, reduce the heat, cover the pan and let the mixture cook together until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.

   

4. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool slightly. Grind the mixture with the remaining ½ cup of water, peanut butter, brown sugar, lime juice and coconut milk powder added to the blender.
5. The dressing can be made ahead of time. Cool the dressing in the refrigerator. It may thicken after cooling and can be thinned with some water if needed.

For the salad-

1. Remove the stems of the washed and dried kale. I used baby kale and baby spinach leaves, so did not need to remove any stems. Massage the leaves with the coconut oil mixture for a few minutes to gently rub in the oil mixture. Set it aside for about 10 minutes.
2. Combine the massaged leaves with the veggies and grapes, top with the walnuts and serve with the dressing!

Do let me know how you like this salad. I would love to hear your thoughts, because we are addicted to it 😉

Love,

Sandhya