TAHINI-TERIYARKI KALE CHIPS

Hola! After some months with a frustrating lack of motivation and inspiration, I'm here. So much has happened. Thesis is nearly finished (hooray!), I'm half-way through my yoga teacher training (hooray! hooray!). And, finally I've arrived at a clear vision of what I want to communicate and share here is this space (High fives!).

Now let's talk kale chips.

The first time I tasted this tahini-teriyaki sauce, I think my brain exploded. It's inspired by a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty, where he, brilliant-genius-maestro-that-he-is, has combined traditional Japanese teriyaki flavours (tamari, sugar, mirin) with tahini. And garlic. I remembered this sauce last week, when confronted with a bag of green beans that were on the verge of being slightly too dodgy to eat. I sautéed them over high heat, drizzled smothered them in this sauce, and ate them atop a pile of other vege. The next day, this sauce was still smothering my brain. I remembered the bunch of kale in the crisper. I don't think the decision to put the two together was pondered for even a millisecond.


TAHINI-TERIYAKI KALE CHIPS
serves 4 as a snack

5 stems/100 g curly kale
2 tbsp/50 g tahini
1 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 garlic clove, crushed

Preheat oven to 100C/210F. Tear the kale off the stem into bite-size pieces. Place the torn leaves in a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Taste, and adjust flavours to taste. Pour over kale leaves, massaging the sauce thoroughly into the kale for at least 1 minute. Spread kale in a single layer across 1-2 baking trays lined with baking paper. Bake for 40 minutes, then remove from oven and carefully peel kale chips away from paper and flip over (you can also use an egg flip, but try not to tear the chips). Return to oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until dry and crispy. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Stored in a really airtight container, kale chips should last a few days, but may need re-crisping. Honestly, mine are lucky to last that long.

Alternative cooking method: often I make kale chips when I've already had the oven on for another reason. Once I'm done with the primary reason for having the oven on (usually around 180C-200C), I turn the oven off completely, and put the kale chips in the still hot oven for 2-3 hours. After this stage, I flip them, then give them 20-30 minutes at 100C just to finish them off. Both methods yield delicious results.