Kale is one of those ingredients we’re told we should eat more of, but to many it’s a dark, leafy vegetable of mystery. Even I don’t use it as much as I should. Especially seeing as I have a rather large kale plant growing in my backyard.
Chatting to my little sister on Skype from Canada she told me about her Kale and Quinoa salad that she had slapped together for lunch. After inquiring what was in it, ‘it was a bit of this and a bit of that’. Reminded me of the Leon Superfood salad from one of my most loved cookbooks (cookbook on Amazon). Seeing as I had a little of this and a little that in my veggie patch and pantry I figured this was something I could do! I set the theme as superfood. Other than quinoa and kale, I borrowed from the Leon recipe and added in some seeds. I would have loved some hemp seeds but was out, sesame seeds are a must for calcium and to compliment the nuttiness of quinoa. To counteract the slight bitterness of the kale, some currants were eying me off; and the veggie patch was offering up rainbow chard, cos lettuce and a mountain of herbs. I also added some broccoli, the original ‘super green’. My super green salad was born.
My sister’s salad was built from raw kale, but my body doesn’t handle raw greens so nicely, so my greens got a very quick quick blanch. You’ll gain slightly more nutrients from raw but there’s no point in having them this way if your body can’t digest them.
: Kale and Quinoa Super Greens Salad
- 1/4 cup white quinoa
- a small bunch kale leaves
- 1 small head broccoli, chopped into florets
- a small bunch rainbow chard
- a cup cos (romaine) lettuce
- 1/4 frozen peas
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 1/4 cup mint
- 2 tsp currants
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp pinenuts
- 1 tsp sunflower seeds
- 20g low-fat fetta, finely chopped
- Creamy Honey Mustard Dressing
- Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add the quinoa and cook for 8 minutes or until you can see the little spirals inside them, add the broccoli and cook for another minute.
- Place the kale, chard and peas into a large bowl. Drain the quinoa through a sieve, pouring the water over the leaves. Imediately, drain the water from the leaves and spin with a salad spinner or pat dry with a clean tea towel.
- Finely chop the chard and kale, roughly chop the cos and herbs. Toss all the greens together in a salad bowel along with the currants.
- Dry the bottom of the saucepan and add the seeds. Gently toast the seeds until golden. and sprinkle over the salad.
- Dress with a tablespoon or two of dressing.
Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time: 8 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 2
