Dharma’s Famous Kale Salad

This recipe has been passed down by my yoga teacher Dharma’s students.  I eat this hearty, delicious salad for dinner all the time.  It helps to clean your blood, gives you energy and minerals, and enhances your overall health and beauty.

People often mistakenly think that vegan food is low in protein or nutrients.  As this incredible salad proves, it is possible for a vegan dish to provide a substantial mix of plant proteins, enzymes, Omega fats, minerals (including important ones found in sea vegetables), and antioxidants.  Plant proteins are much easier for your body to assimilate than animal proteins, and are not acid-forming.

Dark green, leafy vegetables are, in my opinion, the most important of all food groups.  They are rich in alkaline minerals, fiber, and chlorophyll- a powerful blood builder.  Kale is one such dark green vegetable and is packed with nutrients.  Unfortunately, since most people don’t know how to prepare kale to eat raw, they usually sautée or cook it, which destroys many of the vitamins and enzymes.

This salad is amazing- satisfying and full of protein, beautifying enzymes and nutrition:

• 1 head of Kale (Dinosaur Kale is best because it is thick and dark green, but curly kale works too)
• Sprouts- any kind you like. I like Sunflower sprouts and Clover sprouts best. (According to yogic philosophy, sprouts are the highest prana (energy) food of all since a sprout is gathering as much energy as possible to transition from a seed to a plant).
• Pine Nuts
• Sun dried tomatoes (cut up into little pieces)
• A beautiful, perfect avocado (cut up into pieces)
• Olives
• Olive oil
• The juice of 1 large lemon or 1 ½ lemons
• Cayenne pepper
• Celtic sea salt
• Nutritional Yeast (Kal brand is my favorite), 2 or 3 scoops to make ‘cheesy’ and get all your daily supply of B vitamins, plus lots of protein

Recommended Additions

• Hemp seeds (great for added protein)
• Dulse (sea vegetable for minerals)

Take the Kale stems, one-by-one, and strip the leaves off the thick spine stem by hand.  We save the stems and juice them later.  Once you have gotten the leaves off, add a bit of Celtic sea salt to them and shred with your hands to break up the Kale, tearing it into little pieces for easy digestion.  It is important NOT to chop but rather use your hands to break up- otherwise it is a different salad with a different energy.

Add enough olive oil so that the kale is thoroughly saturated.  I usually pour out of a thin spout and count to 5.  Nutritional Yeast will make the dressing thicker, so start with 2 Tbs., mix, and taste to see if you are in the mood for more.  Add everything else to taste and mix well. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment until you get the dressing perfect.  One fun variation is to cut Nori (sushi wraps) into quarters and scoop the salad into them - like mini wraps.  Delicious!

Let me know if you have any questions and Enjoy!