Hot Massaged Kale Salad

Here's another raw recipe--this one adapted from The Raw Chef's recipe. By the way, I highly recommend signing up for his e-zine. It's entertaining and has great recipes! I first heard of this individual from my friend, Amber (of Almost Vegan), who had Russell James as an instructor at raw culinary school. I likes his site, so I signed up. So far, it's been a great (free) investment!

Anyway, this salad is great for the cold weather that's hit all of a sudden. Despite being uncooked, it's extremely warming with the spicy chipotle doing what it does best. Chipotle peppers are obviously not raw, but raw Nazis (rawzis?) could sub in cayenne or a fresh serrano for the heat. Kale is typically a pretty rough leaf to tackle, but massaging it with salt and oil causes the fibers to break down a little; this gives the kale more of a blanched texture. Plus, who doesn't love salt and oil?

Just saying the name of this salad raises my temperature a little....imagine a room lit only by candlelight....a little Barry White wafting through the speakers....and then someone says to you, "Hey baby, wanna have some hot massaged kale?" Aw yeah....

Ahem. Or it's just a healthy, easy to prepare salad. After all, who wants a relationship with a bunch of leaves? Now excuse me as I casually walk away from the awkward silence.

Hot Massaged Kale Salad

Ingredients:

1 head kale, destemmed and torn into bite-sized pieces

1/2 tbs salt

2 tbs olive oil

2 tbs grapefruit juice

1/4 tsp grapefruit zest

1 tbs tahini

1/2 chipotle pepper

1/2 tbs agave

1/2 grapefruit, segmented

1/4 c red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 c sunflower seeds

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine kale, salt, and half the olive oil. Massage into kale until the leaves start to take on a shiny, wilted appearance.

In a blender, combine the remaining oil with the juice, zest, tahini, pepper, and agave. Toss the remaining ingredients and the dressing with the kale to combine. Serves 2.