My Favorite Kale Salad

While a lot of people love kale raw, I prefer kale cooked. This is one way to break down the cell walls which is necessary to make the nutrients available for absorption. Another way would be to massage raw kale, ideally with lemon juice or vinegar, or to blend it up in a smoothie. But besides breaking down the fiber, cooking also lowers the amount of goitrogenic agents all cruciferous vegetables contain. Goitrogens can interfere with the thyroid, especially when these vegetables are eaten often or in big amounts. Traditional cultures always cooked their vegetables well for this reason.

Seasoned with just sea salt and olive oil, this kale salad is a powerhouse of nutrients that makes me feel good immediately while I am eating it, no matter how much. This simple to prepare dish has been a staple in our house for many years. It keeps in the fridge for several days, so I make a big batch every weekend so I can have nutritious leftovers when I am on the run during the week.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Guten Appetit! 
Judith
The Nourishing Yogini 

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Recipe for Favorite Kale Salad 

• a few bunches of greens, like any sort of kale, or collard greens
• sea salt
• olive oil

Prepare greens by striping leaves off from center stalk. Discard center stalks. Wash greens in cold water and let drain in a colander.

Bring water to a boil in a big pot filled to about 1/3. Add greens and let boil until done. Done means it doesn't have the texture of leather anymore and it should taste somehow crisp, but it is also not cooked too much so it hasn't become mushy. Depending on variety and age of the greens, this can take between 8 to 12 minutes, or even more. After about 8 minutes of cooking time I normally start to check the texture every minute or two by having small samples. 

When done take the cooked greens out into your colander and let cool. 

To finish I usually leave the kale leaves as are and cut collard greens in smaller pieces if used. I layer the greens in a bowl, add sea salt with a shaker in between, pour olive oil over it at the end and mix it through. The amount of sea salt and olive oil is a matter of taste. I like plenty of both for this dish.

Voila, all done. Really quick and simple. By the way, I don't throw out the cooking water, it is a great fertilizer for the garden once cooled down! 

 All prepared.

Boiling for some time.

Letting it cool.












Adding salt and olive oil, and enjoy!