Let's talk about kale baby, let's talk about you and me, let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that kale may be... let's talk about kale...
My apologies, that happens from time to time, Salt-N-Pepa just pop into my head and take over my thoughts. I'm sure i'm not alone...right? 80's kids where you at? Any-who, but for real let's talk about Kale. Let's just start off the conversation talking about the elephant in the room.. I have a confession to make.... I may have been a kale skeptic, anti kale, made statements in the past such as "no one actually likes kale" or "Kale is hipster food" and to be honest my feelings towards kale have not changed a whole lot, but i'm a little more open minded since I tried kale chips for the first time. Like I now enter kale land with my eyes not completely open, but not completely closed...more like ajar. Feel me?
I tried making kale chips for the first time probably about 4 years ago and while I wasn't immediately like "wow these are amazing" I did, however find myself eating them all. They were crunchy, salty and addictive. I believe the first time I made them I used a recipe which flavoured them using sesame oil, and soy sauce. I have since made my own recipes for them and I have tried "hacks" and I will tell you what I have found works and what doesn't.
Preparation for all the flavours of chips will be the same. Wash your kale, cut off the stems, and cut the kale into chip sized pieces. Note, the kale will shrink during cooking so your cuts should be slightly larger than your goal sized chip. And dry your kale the best you can.
As for drying the chips. I tried what seemed to be the most popular method from Pinterest, which was using a hair dryer. Kale is light, you blow on it it will blow away...the hair dryer didn't do much as for drying the chips it was more of a pain than a hack.
I imagine if I didn't chop the kale before drying it this would have worked slightly better because the kale wouldn't blow around but you would still want to dry them with the cold air setting on your hair dryer to avoid the heat wilting the kale and this wouldn't be as quick as drying it with a towel.
The tried, tested and true way of drying them I found worked the best, and what I eventually ended up doing, was sandwiching the cut wet kale between two clean, absorbent dish towels and pressing down, then rolling the towels together with the kale in the middle.
Your kale won't be bone dry no matter which method you use but do your best. The drier the better. If you were just to toss wet kale in the oven and bake, all that moisture on the kale would create steam and steam your kale, giving you soggy, not crispy kale chips. This really applies to anything you're cooking and trying to make crispy.
Let's talk flavouring. In order to get any dry flavouring such as salt or whatever to stick you will need to moisten the kale. Not with water as we discussed before but with oil. Oil will not only help dry seasonings to adhere, but will actually aid in crisping.
Now you could just add oil and salt, and bake and call it a day but that's pretty boring. Seriously tho, you don't just eat potato chips because you like the flavour of potatoes...right? Okay maybe you do, I really don't mind a bag of plain chips every now and then but the best bags are the flavoured ones.
All of my measurements are based on using 1/2 of a bunch of kale. So double for a full bunch etc. All baking temps are 300° for 10 minutes, then turn off oven and leave for an additional 5 minutes. If you find your kale chips come out some crispy and some not just simply remove the crispy ones and bake the not crispy ones again for half the time. I would suggest baking all of the flavours on a wire rack over a baking sheet.
Salt & vinegar:
There is 2 ways of going about these. If you're looking for a classic slightly sour and salty chip simply add your dry kale to a bowl, add 1 tsp of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of salt (always go a bit light on salt because the bitterness of the kale tends to add to the saltiness once baked.) and approximately 1 tbsp of white vinegar (you can also use malt vinegar). Now kale in it's raw form is not overly porous so any liquid you're adding, such as vinegar will just sit on the top and not be absorbed into the kale. You will never have a really sour, make your face pucker salt and vinegar kale chip doing it this way, but this does yield a very good kale chip.This is the version I give to my sour loving toddler and she devours them. Now bake and enjoy.
Now if you want that punch you in the taste buds, make your mouth water when you smell them, salt and vinegar chips I live for, the solution is very simple. Add oil to your kale chips same as before but the add salt and vinegar popcorn seasoning and bake. The amount will depend on your personal taste, do keep in mind popcorn seasonings tend to be salty. This is the popcorn seasoning I use the most, but you can also get it cheaper from a bulk food store. Usually it's with the spices. Bake, once they're out of the oven give them another dusting of the seasoning. For some reason the cooking really dulls the flavour down. Enjoy!
Dill pickle:
Add your dried kale to a bowl, add 1 tsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of your favourite dill pickle juice, and about 1 tsp of fresh chopped dill, or dried. Bake.
Alternatively, you can also do as before and add dill pickle popcorn seasoning for a much more flavourful chip. The choice is yours.
Teriyaki:
I originally made these for my 3 year old because, while my other toddler loves all things green and sour, this one is not so much a green vegetable fan for the most part and she thinks everything sour is spicy. So naturally what any good parent trying to sneak attack a vegetable into their toddler would do, I used something she loves, in this case soy sauce (seriously she wants to drench everything in soy sauce) and used it to my advantage. I'm going to be honest she wouldn't touch them but to my surprise these were delicious!! Jay who is also anti green vegetable for the most part tried them and enjoyed them. The best part of these was there is a bit of brown sugar, which bakes down and adheres all the seasonings to the chips.
Add your dry cut kale to a bowl, add 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tbsp soy sauce and 2 tsp brown sugar, 1/2 tsp garlic powder. Mix and bake.
Taco:
Add your dried kale to a bowl, add 1 tsp olive oil, juice of 1/2 a lime, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and 1 tsp brown sugar. If you want to add a bit of spice you could add a couple dashes of Tapatio.
As for drying the chips. I tried what seemed to be the most popular method from Pinterest, which was using a hair dryer. Kale is light, you blow on it it will blow away...the hair dryer didn't do much as for drying the chips it was more of a pain than a hack.
I imagine if I didn't chop the kale before drying it this would have worked slightly better because the kale wouldn't blow around but you would still want to dry them with the cold air setting on your hair dryer to avoid the heat wilting the kale and this wouldn't be as quick as drying it with a towel.
The tried, tested and true way of drying them I found worked the best, and what I eventually ended up doing, was sandwiching the cut wet kale between two clean, absorbent dish towels and pressing down, then rolling the towels together with the kale in the middle.Your kale won't be bone dry no matter which method you use but do your best. The drier the better. If you were just to toss wet kale in the oven and bake, all that moisture on the kale would create steam and steam your kale, giving you soggy, not crispy kale chips. This really applies to anything you're cooking and trying to make crispy.
Let's talk flavouring. In order to get any dry flavouring such as salt or whatever to stick you will need to moisten the kale. Not with water as we discussed before but with oil. Oil will not only help dry seasonings to adhere, but will actually aid in crisping.
Now you could just add oil and salt, and bake and call it a day but that's pretty boring. Seriously tho, you don't just eat potato chips because you like the flavour of potatoes...right? Okay maybe you do, I really don't mind a bag of plain chips every now and then but the best bags are the flavoured ones.
Salt & vinegar:
There is 2 ways of going about these. If you're looking for a classic slightly sour and salty chip simply add your dry kale to a bowl, add 1 tsp of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of salt (always go a bit light on salt because the bitterness of the kale tends to add to the saltiness once baked.) and approximately 1 tbsp of white vinegar (you can also use malt vinegar). Now kale in it's raw form is not overly porous so any liquid you're adding, such as vinegar will just sit on the top and not be absorbed into the kale. You will never have a really sour, make your face pucker salt and vinegar kale chip doing it this way, but this does yield a very good kale chip.This is the version I give to my sour loving toddler and she devours them. Now bake and enjoy.
Now if you want that punch you in the taste buds, make your mouth water when you smell them, salt and vinegar chips I live for, the solution is very simple. Add oil to your kale chips same as before but the add salt and vinegar popcorn seasoning and bake. The amount will depend on your personal taste, do keep in mind popcorn seasonings tend to be salty. This is the popcorn seasoning I use the most, but you can also get it cheaper from a bulk food store. Usually it's with the spices. Bake, once they're out of the oven give them another dusting of the seasoning. For some reason the cooking really dulls the flavour down. Enjoy!Dill pickle:
Add your dried kale to a bowl, add 1 tsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of your favourite dill pickle juice, and about 1 tsp of fresh chopped dill, or dried. Bake.
Alternatively, you can also do as before and add dill pickle popcorn seasoning for a much more flavourful chip. The choice is yours.
Teriyaki:
I originally made these for my 3 year old because, while my other toddler loves all things green and sour, this one is not so much a green vegetable fan for the most part and she thinks everything sour is spicy. So naturally what any good parent trying to sneak attack a vegetable into their toddler would do, I used something she loves, in this case soy sauce (seriously she wants to drench everything in soy sauce) and used it to my advantage. I'm going to be honest she wouldn't touch them but to my surprise these were delicious!! Jay who is also anti green vegetable for the most part tried them and enjoyed them. The best part of these was there is a bit of brown sugar, which bakes down and adheres all the seasonings to the chips.
Add your dry cut kale to a bowl, add 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tbsp soy sauce and 2 tsp brown sugar, 1/2 tsp garlic powder. Mix and bake.
Taco:
Add your dried kale to a bowl, add 1 tsp olive oil, juice of 1/2 a lime, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and 1 tsp brown sugar. If you want to add a bit of spice you could add a couple dashes of Tapatio.
BBQ:
Add your kale into a bowl and add 1 tsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 onion powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp brown sugar (don't skip this or they will be very spicy and bitter) and 1/2 tsp of apple cider vinegar.
Notes:
Notes:
-After all the flavours I have made I have to be honest and say the popcorn seasoning is the winner! It packs the most flavour, just make sure once they're done baking give them another dusting of powder.
-My mom reminded me today, the best way to store the kale chips you haven't devoured in the moments after they come out of the oven, store in a paper bag to avoid them from getting soggy. Alternatively, you can leave them on the wire rack over night then store them in a zip top bag or container. Leaving them overnight ensures all the moisture is gone.
Fun fact, did you know kale is actually part of the cabbage family? I did not, until I researched a bit about kale. Who knew!
Any-who let me know which you try out and which is your favourite. I will add to the list as I come up with new ones. Enjoy!!
Any-who let me know which you try out and which is your favourite. I will add to the list as I come up with new ones. Enjoy!!
My apologies about the lay out of my posts lately, I'm trying to find A solution. The way I place images and paragraphs in the draft is unfortunately not the way they publish. Bare with me, I'm a noob.
ReplyDeleteI may have to try these!
ReplyDelete