Christmas series: Appetizer kale chips

Another appetizer recipe!

These are very easy to make, tasty and ready to be customized. If your guests are a little bit reluctant to try these kale chips as an appetizer, why not guide them into discovery by using them as garnish? (It’s less work for you too!)

This is a very simple, mild, yet rich seasoning for our lovely kale. Once done, they have a lovely crunch, and a seaweed reminiscent taste. In fact, I would use those in a miso soup instead on the nori sheet anytime.

If you are planning on using them as chips, use about a bunch (7 to 9 stalks) of kale per person. Kale shrinks a lot when it is dehydrated so keep this in mind when cutting it into bite size pieces.

Here is what you need per person:

• a bunch of kale, washed and dried (the less water on the leaves, the less time it will take to make)
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• 1 tsp of pumpkin seed oil
• 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast
• salt and pepper to taste ( I used Herbamare salt)
• spices to taste

Here is what you do:

1. With clean fingers, separate the kale leaves from the stems and cut each leave into bite size portions. I usually make 2 pieces out of each side of the leave, so around 4 or 5 chips per stalk. This might seem big, but they will shrink a lot. Discard the stems (you can keep them for your smoothies or veggie stock!).
2. Place all your leaves into a big salad bowl and pour on the oils and seasonings.
3. Massage gently until the leaves are tender and well coated with the seasonings.
4. Place the leaves on a lined cookie sheet or on your dehydrator tray being careful that they don’t touch each other.
5. Place in your oven set on the lowest temperature, or in your dehydrator at 52C or 125F.
6. The chips are ready when crispy. In my dehydrator this takes about 2 hours. If you are using your oven, I would suggest checking the chips every 15 minutes until they are done. You can also leave the oven door slightly open to help air circulation.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in making kale chips, so please don’t buy a 6$ bag of them when they could cost you a fraction of this!

The thing I love most about these is that you can keep the recipe simple like this one, or make it fancy and exotic by adding different spices or herbs: mix in coriander leaves and lime juice for a refreshing flavour, curry powder and sriracha for a little kick or avocado dressing for a creamier feel. The possibilities are endless!

And if you are looking for a dehydrator, I bought an Excalibur a few years ago, and it’s perfect! If you are in Canada, you can check out Upaya Naturals: that’s where I got mine, and the shipping was super quick. Let me know if you try these out and what flavours you have captured!

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