Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Super Quick: Steamed Kale with Cashew Gravy and Brown Rice Spaghetti


"How can we make Kale delicious so we can eat more of it?"  That's my daily Mantra for 2011! 

This recipe comes from Jae Steele's "Get it Ripe: A Fresh Take on Vegan Cooking and Living".  It was a total hit at my house, especially for my husband who went back for heaping seconds of just kale and gravy after he said "don't put so much kale on my plate" :)

And BONUS, this recipe is Gluten Free!
Ingredients
1 bunch of fresh organic green kale, washed
1 bag of Tinkyada brown rice spaghetti (best price is on Vitacost.com!)
2 tbsp olive oil (I omited this)
1 lrg or 2 medium cloves garlic, crushed or grated
1/ cup cashews ground to a powder, not paste
1/2 tsp celery seeds (optional)
1 1/2 cups filtered water
2-3 tbsp tamari, or to taste (I used 1 1/2)
2 tbsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch, dissolved in an additional 1/2 cup water
freshly ground pepper to taste

Jae says to cook the garlic in the olive oil, but I just threw all of the ingredients from the garlic down to the pepper into the Vitamix!  I steamed the kale in a steamer basked while cooking the noodles.  Then I poured the sauce from the Vitamix into a pan to warm and assembled everything when the noodles were done.   So, it all took about 17 minutes total, maybe 20 if you count waiting for the water to boil for the noodles.  I have a quick boil setting on my stove top.

Try this one out and let me know how your kids and/or significant other like it!

Estimated Eat for Health MANDI Score per serving: 12.2
10 for the Kale
1.0 for the Cashew Gravy
1.2 for the Brown Rice Pasta

COST: Not counting condiments and seasonings, the total cost of the meal was $6.28!
Kale- $2.37/large bundle at Hoover's Essential Health Market
Raw Cashew Pieces- $4.29/lb (estimated .75 for 1/2 cup)
Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta- $3.16 at Vitacost (and I bought during a free shipping deal last month!)
 

3 comments:

Kristin said...

I have a question about kale. I've made it a couple times and even my mom mentioned that it came out a little "chewier" than expected. Is that normal or did I not cook it long enough?

Gretchen said...

Well, Kale is a little chewy but you can make it less chewy by chopping it up smaller. It's best if you cook it until it's bright green and slightly soft. But try it with the gravy, it is really good :)

Gretchen said...

Ops, I thought I responded to your comment already?! Well, kale can be chewy, but if you chop it into smaller pieces you won't notice it as much. Had your mom tried kale before? Some people are used to boiled kale and that is really too soft. Greens should never be boiled, always steamed in a steamer basket until bright green or in a pan sautee with water or broth.