Man, is this salad good! Sweet mango, salty pumpkin seeds, and my favorite green, kale—what could be better? I used to not really like mangos, but that was before I had them perfectly ripe when I was studying abroad in Tanzania. They were so juicy that you could just cut off the end and then suck the sweet flesh right out of the skin—amazing. Now, I haven't been able to find mangos like that in good ole Ohio, but the ones we do have taste great in this salad!
Kale is a little bit of tricky green—if you just tear it up like you would any other lettuce, it can be kind of hard to eat. So I decided to show you step by step how I like to cut up mine! First, you need to tear the leaves on either side of the stem away. The stem is tough and fibrous, so you don't want to eat it!
Continue doing this to the whole bunch of kale. Stack a few of the leaves on top of each other, as pictured above.
Roll this pile of kale into a little tube, and then slice along the tube about every 1/2 an inch.
Continue doing this to all of your kale leaves, and you will end up with a pile of perfectly chiffonaded kale. Think of this recipe as a template for whatever kind of kale salad your imagination can come up with—replace the mango with apples, the pumpkin seeds with walnuts, or whatever floats your boat!
Kale, Mango, and Pumpkin Seed Salad with Lemon Dressing
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 bunches of lacinato (also called dinosaur) kale
- juice from 1 lemon, divided
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for massaging kale
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 mango
- small handful pumpkin seeds
Instructions
Chiffonade the kale (instructions above). In a large salad bowl, add the chiffonaded kale, half the lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil, and a pinch of kosher salt. Massage your kale until it starts to soften a little bit, about one minute. Set aside.
Add the rest of the lemon juice to a small bowl. Add honey and a lot of freshly ground black pepper. Stream in the 1/4 cup olive oil while whisking until the dressing comes together.
Cut the ends off of the mango and use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin. Cut the fruit into slices, avoiding the core in the middle. Dice your mango slices into small cubes.
Place the pumpkin seeds in a small sauté pan over medium heat until they start to brown and pop, about five minutes.
Add mango and pumpkin seeds to kale, and then drizzle about half of the dressing onto the salad. Toss and taste, adding more dressing to your liking.
Enjoy!
maddie
Adapted from food network