Kale Sweet 'n' Sour Salad

Kale is one of those things magazines keep telling us to eat because it's AH-MAAAAY-ZING for your overall vitality. The truth is, it tastes a bit like arse unless you give it some lovin' in the kitchen. So that's what I did.

Kale Sweet 'n' Sour Salad (makes 4 serves)

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of kale
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2-3 Tbs goji berries
• Hulk-sized handful of parsley (basil also works well) roughly chopped
• 4 tsp EVOO (I used a passionfruit infused EVOO for even more flavour)
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Juice of half a lemon (about 1/4C)
• Stevia, or 2tsp honey
• Cayenne pepper (optional)

Method:

• Wash your kale! You don't want to find any little buggies hiding in the curly leaves. I say this from experience, except I found half a bug. 
• Wash your kale again.
• Pat the kale dry and strip the leaves from the stalk (pull down the stalk "against the grain" and they should come right off). Tear them into bite-sized pieces and pop them in a big mixing bowl.
• Sprinkle about a teaspoon of sea salt into the bowl, along with the 4 teaspoons of EVOO.

• Alright, now it's time to get personal with your kale. It's had a tough day, you know? So treat it to a nice, firm massage! Don't be scared to get intimate with your kale. (in all seriousness, though, this is the most important part of the recipe because it softens the leaves and helps ease the bitter taste raw kale has)
• You'll know when you've massaged the leaves enough when they shrink down/wilt a little bit and go a darker, more vibrant green. Of course you could always taste one of the leaves, too. Here's what mine looked like:

• Throw in your spring onion, goji berries*, parsley and lemon zest. Crack some black pepper over the top and give the whole lot a toss. (* at this point, you can leave your salad in the fridge to dress & eat later which will give the goji berries time to plump up. Otherwise, pop your gojis in a little bowl of tepid water while you're preparing the salad for them to soften up)
• Time for the dressing! Simply use a fork to combine lemon juice, honey (or stevia - liquid is best in this instance) and cayenne pepper if you want to give your salad some sass.
• Pour the dressing over the leaves, give it another good toss and serve!

Notes

I usually serve this with chicken or fish. You can also dice up a few strawberries to add to the mix, grapes also work well. This also tastes delish with toasted almonds tossed through!

You can experiment with what you add to your kale! Your standard base is a massaged bowl of kale using salt and oil.

Why this kale salad is kick-ass 

• Per calorie, kale has a higher iron content than beef. Chyeah, tell that to your carnivorous boyfriend/brother/dad/male acquaintance next time they sit down to a steak. Low iron levels can make you feel tired, but iron is also awesome for getting oxygen around the body...which is kind of important, no?
• Kale is a calcium super-source! Put down the "extra calcium" milk and pick up the kale (besides, kale has more calcium per calorie than milk).
• There's a tonne of fiber in kale to keep things moving in your digestive system
• Plus loads of vitamins in kale (A, B, C and even K!) which together maintain healthy eyes, skin, metabolism and all things wonderful
• EVOO is a healthy source of fat that will make your skin glow, give you sustained energy and keep you full
• Considering they're dried fruit, goji berries pack a lot of punch for a comparatively little amount of sugar. Plus they have ALL of the essential amino acids (building blocks of the body!) and are little protein bullets. They're a wonderful antioxidant to fend off any nasties like bacteria, fungus and wrinkles.