Aarti’s Massaged Kale Salad

So it’s no secret that I’m obsessed with all things Food Network. Watching the 6th season of The Next Food Network Star definitely fell into that obsession.  I really liked Aarti Sequeira from the beginning. I loved that she was a food blogger over at Aarti Paarti before going on the show. Her personal style was to infuse Indian cuisine into everyday American foods. She questioned her ability to compete with working/professionally trained chefs, yet she won lots of the competitions and challenges. I was not surprised that she was crowned The Next Food Network Star.

Her first showed aired over the weekend. I set the DVR and watched it on Monday. I really liked her style and the first show had some great recipes. Sloppy Bombay Joe’s – which I plan on making at some point, Massaged Kale Salad, which I did make,  and Creamy Pistachio Pops.

I loved the Kale Chips I made back in July…but those were cooked. Raw kale? Who knew? The concept was really interesting to me.

The Ingredients:

1 Bunch of Kale – She used black kale – I already had regular curly kale on hand  – she mentioned that was fine too. (Remove stalks and discard, ribbon slice the leaves).
1 Lemon – Juiced
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Plus extra for drizzling
Kosher Salt to Taste
2 Teaspoons Honey – I added a little more
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Mango – Diced small (about 1 cup)
Small handful toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) – about 2 rounded tablespoons – I used about 4 tablespoons.

Directions:

Wash your kale and then pat dry with paper towels.

Using your hands – strip the kale off the stalk. This was very easy. I just held the stalk firmly and used my hand to slide through the curly leaves – they came right off the stalk very easily.

You are left with a pretty big pile of kale leaves. The idea is to roll them up as best as you can and then use a sharp knife to finely slice the kale into ribbons.

The curly kale made the process a little harder than what Aarti did with the black kale, but it worked in the end. I added the kale ribbons to a large bowl with 1/2 the lemon juice, a drizzle of oil and a little kosher salt.

You then dive right into the bowl with your hands. Massage the kale, lemon, oil and salt mixture until the kale starts to soften and wilt. I had a photo of me massaging the kale, but my hand looked like a giant ham hock and that was really disturbing. Massage the kale for a good 2-3 minutes. Aarti mentioned that it will start to smell like bananas – not so much, never got the banana aroma.

The volume of the kale definitely changed – before massaging, the kale was almost to the top of the bowl. It was amazing how much softer it got after the 3 minutes.

I got my mango chopped and then I started preparing the dressing.

I whisked together the remaining lemon juice, honey and freshly ground black pepper. I then slowly added the 1/4 cup of oil, while whisking until it formed the texture of a well mixed dressing. I tasted it, added some more honey and some more lemon juice – I thought it was a little too oily.

I added the pepitas to the salad and poured on the dressing, tossed, and then plated.

Outside photo with sunlight…

Inside photo with my iPhone…

What an amazing salad. It was perfect for a 106 degree day. I ate a small bowl, had some cheese toast with celery root and carrot salad and then had a hot date with my treadmill and the Rachel Zoe Project, followed by Top Chef and another small bowl of the salad – OMG, it tasted even better after marinating in the fridge for longer. The salad is addicting. Aarti mentioned on her show that because of the hearty structure of kale, it will hold up for several days in the fridge – dressing and all. What an awesome lunch option for me, love it!

I’m really looking forward to future Aarti Party shows. It’s about time I kicked things up Indian style. This blog was about branching out and trying new foods and styles of cooking. Never in a million years did I think I’d be looking forward to seconds, thirds and fourths of a raw kale salad.

Go me…