CRUNCHY KALE CHIPS
Kale is an amazing vegetable to eat during the winter months and it has become quite famous as healthy food, for good reasons. Kale is part of the so-called cruciferous vegetables, along with broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, radish, leeks and many more. It is very nutrient dense, with a 50gr serving providing more than your daily intake of vitamin A and vitamin K, 2gr of fibre, 26% of your daily intake of manganese, 18% of calcium, 12% of vitamin C, 16% of folate and 16% of vitamin B2. Moreover, kale has 2 powerful anti-inflammatory plant compounds: quercetin and kaempferol. Research found that quercetin in particular is very effective in eczema and hay fever because it lowers the histamine load (read the study DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2016.02.011).
You can eat kale in many tasty ways, I like to have it as kale chips or steam it and drizzle a dressing of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Serve: 2
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: easy
INGREDIENTS
-a pack of curly kale, organic if possible
-1 tablespoon of odourless coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil
-half teaspoon of smoked paprika
-salt and pepper
METHOD
1.Pre-heat the oven at 150C.
2.Wash the kale thoroughly and pat it dry. Remove the hard stalks and tear it with your hand to create big chunks.
3.Place your kale on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Drizzle the olive oil, the paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Mix with your hands until well combined. Re position the kale ensuring that the leaves are spread on a single layer.
4.Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. The trick is to check them often and remove any piece that is golden and crunchy as you go (when overcooked, kale chips have a bitter taste that we want to avoid).
Are awesome when consumed right away but you can also keep them for couple of days in an airtight container. In this case put them in the oven for few minutes before consuming, so they crisp up again.
