When I lived in LA, I loved going to M Café for their Peanut Kale Deli Salad. It’s one of my top 10 favorite kale salads (yes I love that many kale salads). It’s super rich, flavorful, and even better with a side of brown rice!
The salad at M Café de Chaya is served with blanched/wilted curly kale, which is how I prepared my salad in this recipe. If you are more of a tuscan kale (dinosaur kale) fan, I have also prepped the salad with it for you! With the dinosaur kale, I left it cold and unbalanced, rinsed it, chopped it, warmed the dressing over the stove, and then massaged it in and let the kale wilt a bit! I loved the salad both ways, but I think the dino kale might be my new fav!
Kale Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing
Adapted from Linda LaRue
Salad
1 large bunch curly kale
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped for garnish
1/4 red onion, halved and sliced for garnish
Spicy Peanut Dressing
makes about 1/2 cup of dressing
1/2 cup peanut butter [for more macro version use tahini instead]
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce or Tamari
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ginger, minced
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp salt
3 Tbsp hot water
Remove the kale from the stems. Add a pinch of salt to a pot of boiling water, then blanch the kale for 3 minutes. Remove the kale from the boiling water and shock it in a container of ice water. Finally, squeeze the excess water out of the cooled kale. For the dressing, place all dressing ingredients into a blender. Blend until mixture turns into a smooth consistency. Add 1 Tbsp of dressing per 1 cup of kale and mix until kale is evenly coated. Garnish with sliced red onions and chopped peanuts.
Kimberly
January 8, 2015 at 5:51 am (10 years ago)I will definitely be making this tonight! Looks delicious. Do you know when/ if you will be selling the oversized t-shirts again? I am dying to buy one of those and one of your beanies!
Christina
January 12, 2015 at 12:47 pm (10 years ago)Hi, I found your blog while searching “healthy foods at disneyland.” I live in OC too, where do you get kale salads? I’m new to kale. Cute blog!
Catherine
January 12, 2015 at 1:11 pm (10 years ago)Thats awesome, Christina! I love the “All Hale Kale” salad (add grilled Tempeh) from Veggie Grill (it’s by UCI), and the Kale Salad from Pitfire Pizza (on 17th Street in Costa Mesa) it has tuscan kale and seasonally has medal dates, it’s amazing!
micheleelizabeth2007
January 13, 2015 at 3:09 pm (10 years ago)yummm this looks absolutely delicious! I’m not usually a fan of kale but this recipe sounds great!
Debbie
January 26, 2015 at 12:18 pm (10 years ago)I’m new to your blog and am loving it. This recipe looks amazing and I’m going to try it tonight. Do you make your own peanut butter or do you have a favorite that you buy??
Catherine
January 26, 2015 at 5:59 pm (10 years ago)Hi Debbie! I’m so glad you found my blog! I love the Unsalted Creamy Peanut Butter (and almond butter!) from Trader Joe’s! It doesn’t contain any hydrogenated oils like most peanut butters on the market. In fact, when you read the ingredient list, the only thing list is dry roasted peanuts! If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you, the best thing to do, is to read the label on the back of peanut butter jars. Even when they are labeled “natural” some contain oil which is totally unnecessary. Look for peanut butters that list their ingredients as only “peanuts” (or peanuts and salt if you like salted). These are the healthiest nut butters for you! I hope this helps!