Kale and Seaweed Salad Bowl

Last week heralded the most depressing day of the year (good news - the rest of the year can only get better!) It’s cold and icy in NYC and the sun is acting too bashful to push its way through the clouds.

I noticed that it was about this time last year that Elise at Simply Recipes posted her version of Kale and Seaweed salad. I’ve been craving seaweed salad ever since I ordered it on New Years Day at Zen Palate. I can’t prove this scientifically, but heck, this is the time of year for seaweed salad!

I’ve forged ahead and simplified this into a full meal. It’s a kicky little dish that will fortify you against this toe-numbing cold and take the edge off your winter blahs.

Serves: 4
Time: 40 minutes

Kale and Seaweed Salad Bowl

3/4 oz dried wakame* seaweed
1 bunch kale, cleaned, deribbed and cut into 1/2 inch ribbons
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
3 Tbsp soy sauce, tamari, or Braggs
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp honey
1 inch ginger, minced
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 cup of wasabi peas
brown rice
12 - 16 oz firm or extra-firm tofu

Cook your brown rice - the rest of the meal can be prepared well within the time it takes to cook brown rice.

Wilt the kale in a skillet. You don’t have to add anything extra to the skillet - the water clinging to it from the washing is enough to do the trick. This takes about 10 minutes.

Mix up your dressing: add the vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, and ginger to a tupperware and shake until honey has dissolved.

Cut the tofu into cute, 1″ cubes. I like the soft, raw tofu to contrast with the silky kale crunchy sesame seeds and wasabi peas, so all I do with my tofu is bring it up to room temp and let it be. You may stirfry it, however, if you desire.

Soak the wakame in water for 5 minutes. Drain.

Combine the seaweed with the cooked kale in a salad bowl. Top with the dressing. Mix.

In a small dry skillet fry the sesame seeds gently until golden. Just takes a few minutes.

Then, assemble your bowl the following way:

Enjoy whilst imagining summer.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 at 10:19 am and is filed under Salads, Stovetop & Skillet, Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.