Fresh, zingy, packed with nutrition and vitamins – this green salad takes very little time to put together and can be enjoyed over lunch or dinner. Serve it with a side of sweet potato baked fries for a little touch of indulgence.
I am a firm believer that a tasty salad does NOT have to be complicated. A few fresh ingredients and a simple dressing is all it takes for the salad to be the star of the show, don’t you agree? Although I try not to eat out too much (homemade food will always taste better than any restaurant food) but when it does happen, I like making healthier food choices.
Salad seems like a great healthy and delicious option, doesn’t it? Well, so I thought… I don’t know what it is but there seems to be an ‘unspoken rule’ between quite a few restaurants to make their salads bland, tasteless, unappetising, flooded with dressing to disguise the taste of all the ingredients – you get the picture. I’m not normally the one to complain BUT I don’t think it’s fair to the ‘salad reputation’.
My inner rebel has woken up and I promised to myself to start a ‘revolution of salads’ on my humble blog by posting regular seasonal salad recipes, so we can restore the reputation of salads once and for all (sounds like a worthy mission to me!) If you follow me along on Instagram, I’ll be posting my creations under the hashtag #revolutionofsalads. If you’ve had a similar experience with a ‘looking sorry for itself’ salad, I would be very humbled if you used this hashtag to share your vibrant, wholesome and nutritious plates and bowls.
Without further ado, you can find the salad recipe below. This time I used raw kale (marinated in lemon juice and olive oil) to preserve as many of its nutrients as possible. High in fibre, iron, vitamins A, C & K, kale is also a powerful anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory vegetable – a real superfood veggie in my eyes. Serve the salad with a side of baked sweet potato fries and your life will be complete, I promise.
Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. I’d love it if you shared your ‘salad experiences’ with me (I’m hoping that I’m not the only ‘fusspot’ out there!)
Healthfully yours,
Tania x
Green kale salad with spicy roasted chickpeas
Ingredients
- For spicy chickpeas:
- 1/2 tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp hot paprika
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- For the salad:
- 2 cups kale leaves (stalks removed)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 2 cups mixed green leaves
- 1 medium cucumber, sliced into long ribbons (I use a vegetable peeler to make ribbons)
- A handful of radishes, cut in halves
- For the dressing:
- 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1-2 tsp agave or maple syrup (you might need to use more to get the right balance between acidity and sweetness)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 220C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- 2. In a medium size bowl, combine the chickpeas with turmeric, coriander, cumin, salt & pepper and olive oil and mix to ensure even coating. Transfer the chickpeas on a baking tray and roast in the oven for around 10 minutes, giving them a little stir half way through baking.
- 3. Whilst the chickpeas are roasting, place the kale leaves in a big bowl, add the lemon juice, olive oil and salt & pepper and start ‘massaging’ the kale leaves by gently squeezing them with your hands for 2-3 minutes. Add green salad leaves, cucumber ribbons and radishes into the bowl, mix again and leave to the side.
- 4. Prepare the dressing by whisking all dressing ingredients together. Make sure you taste the dressing, as you might have to adjust the amount of syrup to get the right balance between acidity and sweetness.
- 5. Pour the dressing into the salad bowl, mixing everything together to ensure even coating. Transfer the salad onto the plates and sprinkle roasted chickpeas on top. Serve with baked sweet potato fries.
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