I created this recipe as a vegetarian spin on a Thai beef salad because kale is a substantial, meaty green.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- 4 carrots, thinly sliced
- 3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
- 8 leaves kale, stemmed and torn into pieces
- 5 sprigs fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1 lime, juiced
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- ½ teaspoon lime zest, or to taste
- 1 small cucumber, cut into matchstick-size pieces (Optional)
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts (Optional)
- 4 sprigs fresh mint, roughly chopped (Optional)
Instructions
- Heat a heavy-bottom skillet over medium heat; add olive oil and swirl around in skillet. Cook and stir onion in the hot oil until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes; cook and stir until garlic and ginger are slightly browned and fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir carrots and celery into onion mixture; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add kale and cilantro; cook and stir until kale is slightly wilted, about 45 seconds. Stir lime juice, fish sauce, and lime zest into kale mixture until kale is evenly coated in lime juice.
- Serve kale salad topped with cucumber, peanuts, and mint.
- If you are unable to find fish sauce, try a 50-50 blend of rice wine vinegar and soy sauce; frankly, it works but doesn’t taste the same.
- Cashews can be used in place of the peanuts, if desired.
- Due to food allergies, I excluded peanuts and cashews for the recipe. If utilizing peanuts or cashews, be sure to lightly toast in the pan and set aside before adding olive oil. Give nuts a rough chop before adding as a garnish.
Reviews
This had a lot of different things going on but it turned out pretty good. It was definitely spicy so if you are sensitive to heat I’d cut back on the red pepper flakes. I left out the optional peanuts and mint. You’ve got to move pretty fast once you get started so I recommend having everything measured out and ready before you start.