I had been looking for kale for a while here in Budapest. We love to shop at the nearby Hunyadi tÊr market, which unfortunately does not stock kale and neither do any of the nearby supermarkets (perhaps there is not too much demand for it!). Last weekend, we decided to pay a visit to Mom BioPiac, a farmers market on the other side of Budapest. And guess what… we found kale! đ
I had read about kale and its earthy flavour but I had never had kale before (it was never too popular in Malta either!). As my first attempt to cook with kale, I decided to prepare some crispy kale chips. I have read that they can be tricky to make… it is very easy to end up with either soggy kale or burnt chips.
Here is a step by step procedure that I have followed.
- Grab a bunch of kale leaves. Remove the leaves from the stem and tear the leaves into large pieces. (pssttt… freeze the stems to throw them in smoothies later on)
- Wash the leaves and dry them properly. Any remnant water will steam the leaves rather than bake them.
- Coat the leaves with extra virgin olive oil but do not drench them. I like to use a baking brush to make sure there are no excess oil on the leaves.
- Spread the kale out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Make sure you do not pile them on top of each other as they will end up soggy.
- Season the leaves with salt and pepper. I also like to add some paprika, chili flakes and garlic flakes. But it is really up to your taste.
- Bake the kale at a low temperature, say 150 degrees Celsius. It may take a bit longer to finish but you do not want to end up with burnt chips. With regards to baking time, it varies from one oven to another. Mine were done after 10 minutes.
- Cool the kale chips for a minute or two on the baking tray before digging in. This will help the chips to crisp up a bit more.
Enjoy! đ
