Salads are definitely not one of my go-to lunches because although I’m deemed as a “health nut”, I always find salads to be unpalatable, boring, and insatiable… but not this vegan kale salad!
The only salad I’ll ever touch is my own kale salad, and Leung can definitely vouch for this one. Even when guests bring over salad for a dinner party, I usually refrain from trying it. For a person who loves her veggies, I don’t really understand my salad avoidance tendencies hahaha. I guess I never really like the idea of drenching raw veggies with dressing, when I could be eating a pan of roasted veggies.
But this kale salad really turned things around for me, and I don’t think I have ever eaten kale another way (other than the usual lazy veggie stir-fry where I just dump veggies in a pan and call it dinner) ever since I first experimented with this dressing. This is even approved by my not-so-veggie-loving friends, so you can bet even if you don’t love salads, you’ll enjoy this one!
This recipe is part of Week 4 of our Vegan Meal Prep series.
- SALAD
- 2 large bunches kale
- 1½ lemon, juiced
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- 1 can chickpeas, drained
- ¾ c. quinoa, uncooked
- DRESSING
- ¼ c. tahini
- 1 tbsp. miso paste
- 2 tsp. dijon mustard
- 2½ tbsp. maple syrup*
- water, as needed
- In a small pot, cook quinoa according to package instructions.
- Roast chickpeas on a baking sheet at 375°F for about 15 to 20 minutes. You can toss with a bit of oil, salt, and pepper if desired.
- Meanwhile, wash and spin kale dry and massage through washed kale with lemon juice.
- Set the kale aside to "break down" from the lemon juice while you prepare the dressing.
- For the dressing, add in all the ingredients into a small bowl and mix. Add in water to attain a yogurt consistency. Make sure it isn't too thin because massaging the kale with the thick dressing really makes the kale more palatable and less "chewy". Adjust to taste.
- Pour dressing into the salad and massage the kale until everything is incorporated.
- Toss in the remaining toppings (quinoa, cucumber, chickpeas) into the salad and enjoy immediately or store in the fridge in an airtight container to enjoy later.
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