Massaged Kale Salad
The best winter Massaged Kale Salad recipe with pomegranate arils, sweet orange slices and toasted slivered almonds. Massaging kale softens the leaves, leaving them tender and ready to be coated in a scrumptious orange ginger dressing!
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 190kcal
Ingredients
For Salad:
- 8 cups green curly kale packed, stems removed and chopped
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 large pomegranate arils only
- 4 mandarins or 1 orange sliced
- 1/2 cup almonds slivered, sliced or coarsely chopped
For Orange Ginger Dressing:
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large salad bowl, add kale, olive oil and salt. Massage with your hands for 2-3 minutes until the amount of kale shrinks a bit.
- Prepare pomegranate and orange slices. Add to bowl. Set aside.
- Toast nuts in a skillet on medium heat until fragrant, stirring often. Transfer to a bowl with salad.
- In a small bowl, add orange juice, olive oil, ginger, salt, pepper and whisk with a fork.
- Pour dressing over salad, toss gently.
- Enjoy at the holidays or for winter dinner with a bowl of soup.
Notes
- Store: You can store salad leftovers for up to 36 hours without salad becoming soggy.
- Don't try dried ginger, you won't be even able to taste it. Has to be fresh or no ginger at all, which will do.
- I prefer to use green curly kale as it is less bitter than Dinosaur kale. Also known as Lacinato kale, dinosaur kale has dark narrow leaves with bumps. Its leaves are quite soft, so if you use it, chances are no massage is required.
- You can buy pomegranate arils but be prepared to pay for someone's time. Or I find using this method is not that bad.
- I used mandarins and sliced them into rounds. You can also separate small mandarins into small segments. Any citrus fruit like oranges, clementines, cuties etc. will work. The key is to get them to small bite size pieces as close as possible.
- I use slivered almonds but sliced or coarsely chopped whole work just as well. Hazelnuts, macadamia nuts or cashews will go well with kale.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 190kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 229mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g