Beluga Lentil Kale Salad

Beluga Lentil Kale Salad with avocado, radishes and radicchio. All the delicious protein, healthy fats, fibre, good carbs and an array of vitamins and minerals our body needs, right there on a single plate!

This kind of nourishing rich salad is my usual lunch when I’m eating alone and one of my frequent take – to – work meals. One of the reasons is that is so easy to prepare yet provides all the important nutrients and nourishment I need, and it’s quite filling.

The novelty in this one is massaged raw kale. My first time ever having raw kale in a salad – going by the name “massaged kale” – that doesn’t really sound very appealing but it is in fact delicious!! And all of you who had been living under a rock until today as I have and haven’t tried it, I’m nudging you..do it!

Kale is such an amazing plant, one of healthiest veggies around, belonging to the cruciferous vegetable family that is proven to protect us from degenerative diseases such as cancer. And the combination of lentils and kale is exceptionally good because they complement each other perfectly each providing what the other one lacks nutrient wise:)

You must be wondering by now what the heck “massaged kale” is? ok, so when cut into these thin ribbons and “massaged” with salt and some oil, kale becomes soft, manageable and sweeter, kind of cabbage like, but with less of a cabbage flavour. Perfect for salads, especially in winter time when we lack many of the usual salad greens.

Not sure if I’m inspiring you to try it with this explanation or convincing you not to, but do try it;)

The lentils you can cook yourself or use canned ones. And you can use any salad dressing you like. I tried it with two different ones: olive oil based and pumpkin oil based…loved both!

You can go with a simpler version as in the picture: kale + kentils + tomatoes + sesame seeds. Equally delicious:)

[recipe-foody]
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Yeilds: 1 portion

Ingredients

1 cup cooked beluga lentils
1 medium kale
1/2 avocado
3-4 radishes
1 small radicchio
Sea salt and olive oil for preparing the kale

Dressing:
2 tbsp olive or pumpkin oil
1-2 tsp shoyu (naturally fermented soy sauce or you can use liquid aminos)
1 tbsp ume seasoning (umeboshi, ume su)
1 tsp coconut sugar
1 tsp lemon or lime juice
pinch of chili powder
Note: if using regular vinegar, you have to add some salt to taste

Method

1. To prepare kale, de stem it and cut it into thin ribbons (as in the pictures), add some salt and olive oil and gently “squeeze and massage it”
2. Leave it for 10-15 minutes to soften while you prepare the other ingredients
3. Cut the avocado in cubes, slice the radishes (you can alternatively use cherry tomatoes), cut the radicchio in ribbons
4. Prepare the dressing in a small jar. It’s always better to mix all the dressing ingredients in an emulsion. The salad will taste better:)
5. First season the lentils separately
6. Assemble the salad and season it
7. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top (or any others you prefer: hemp, toasted sunflower, toasted pumpkin seeds).
[/recipe-foody]
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