Crunchie Baked Kale Falafels.

There’s no stopping my Kale plants. They seem to be thriving in their little home and the more we cut them the more the flourish.

We’re eating kale every single day! Honestly, do yourself a favour, get down to your local nursery and buy a punnet of kale. They just doesn’t stop giving.

When I made my Kale Tabouli last month I started to look think of other recipes that I could substitute kale with. I figure if kale could easily replace parsley then why not falafels?

I decided to bake them instead of frying to keep things healthy. Hot out of the oven, they looked good and I teamed them up with a tahini sauce and simple garden salad for the photo, however when it came to the taste test I wasn’t sure If I liked them. They tasted quite ‘grassy’ however teamed up with my Lebanese turnip pickles, cos lettuce leaves, sliced tomatoes, a garlicky tahini sauce and a dash of chilli all wrapped up on Lebanese bread, they made quite a tasty meal and I forgot these falafels were even kale.

Crunchie Baked Kale Falafels.
• 4 cups kale leaves (stems removed)
• 1 400g can chickpeas, rinsed
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 Tablespoons tahini
• 4 table spoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 4-5 tablespoons flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Small bunch of fresh mint leaves.

Pulse the kale, chickpeas, garlic, tahini, lemon juice and cumin in a food processor until it forms a thick paste. Transfer to a bowl and stir through the flour. I added 4 spoons of flour, but if your mix is still wet and not solid enough to form small balls, add more flour.

Form them into ball like shapes and squish them down a bit to flatten

Pop them into a preheated oven and bake until golden brown
Best eaten hot and crunchy.

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Kale Tabouli

It looks like Tabouli

It smells like Tabouli,

Heck, it even tastes like Tabouli.

But this, my friends, is no ordinary tabouli! You see, it has no parsley.

So what’s that green stuff, I hear you say?

It’s kale! Glorious, raw, antioxidant-rich, superfood craze kale!

Get out of here!

I can hear all the Lebanese population ‘tsk tsk tsk’ me.

My Egyptian born mother is shaking her head in disapproval.

Can a tabouli be made without the main ingredient parsley? Why sure! Why not 

I have a glut of kale at the moment and I’ve found it to be most delicious in its raw form, uncooked and vitamin rich, combined with lemon juice, olive oil and all the other tabouli necessities like bulgur, tomatoes and cucumber, it makes for one very tasty and nutritious lunch.

A while back, I was sent the above hilarious you tube vid for a laugh. Now, every time I open the cupboard and see bulgur staring back at me, I can’t help but do a little tabouli dance.

‘Tabouli, Ta Ta Tabouli, makes me shake, shake shake my booty’

Yes, you know you want to.

Ok, it’s nearly Friday and I’m feeling silly. So grab some kale, shock the Middle Eastern population, sing a little Tabouli jingle and shake your booty.

Kale Tabouli – Serves 2 as a side dish, or one very hungry person for lunch

• 5 stems kale
•  2 tomatoes
•  2 cucumbers
•  1/3 cup fine bulgur
•  Small bunch of fresh mint
•  1-2 juicy lemon
•  ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
•  1 small clove garlic, finely minced.
•  Sea salt to taste

Start by placing the dried bulgur to your salad bowl. Top with lemon juice and the olive oil. Leave it aside for 10 minutes until the bulgur has completely absorbed all the lemon juice and oil. Add minced garlic and season with salt.

Remove stalk from kale and only use the leafy part on top.

Remove the stalks completely from the kale. You only want to use the leaves in this recipe.

Finely chop the kale as small as you can get it so it resembles chopped herbs. Add it to the wet bulgur mix.

Dice tomatoes and cucumbers, and shred the mint. Add to the bowl.

Give it all a good toss, using your hands. Taste for seasoning.

Enjoy and boogie.

Crispy Crunchy Healthy Kale Chips!

My husband has a thing. That is, he can’t start a movie without the ‘hand to mouth’ action that usually incorporates buttery popcorn or salty nuts. Now instead of the usual horrid microwave popcorn I decided to surprise him by serving him Kale while we were cozied up on the couch watching True Lies (for the billionth time)

‘Kale?’ he smirked, ‘um no thank you’. He made way for the kitchen and proceeded to make his usual popcorn, the smell of chemical butter waiving through the house. ‘Suit Yourself’ I thought as I took the plate of Kale chips all to myself.

He came back to the couch and naturally curiosity got the better of him. ‘Ok, maybe just one’ he said as he shoved my gorgeous crispy and healthy chips into his gob. Then another one, then another one and then my plate was gonski.

The good news is that there was more Kale in the fridge, the oven was still hot and these take under 2 minutes to make. The popcorn was put aside and we watched Schwarzenegger and Curtis in there comedy spy shenanigans munching on delicious Kale chips content.

Kale Chips

• 1 large bunch of kale
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• Sea Salt
• Cracked Pepper

 It can’t get easier than this; preheat your oven to 230C

wash and pat dry your Kale leaves

cut them up into 2cm squares

sprinkle them with Olive Oil, salt and pepper and toss to combine evenly.

Spread them out onto a baking tray and bake in oven for one minute. Take them out, shake them about roughly and bake for a further minute.

Done!

Kale done this way is a great way of getting green leaves into your children and toddlers too. My daughter absolutely loves munching on them, crisping them up and making a big green mess!