Kale and Carrots Salad with Chili Lime Peanut Dressing
Kale and carrots salad or vegan crunchy "kale-slaw" with creamy chili-lime peanut-y dressing! Carry to potluck without getting soggy, also great with summer bbq!
Posted By Savita
Crunchy kale, carrots and peanuts salad coated in tangy, sweet and spicy chili-lime Peanut Dressing! A vegan and healthy way to enjoy your daily servings of green with scrumptious touch of favorite peanut butter!
Actually today's Kale and Carrots Salad is more than a just-a-salad. It is Creamy Peanut-y Vegan Kale-Slaw! Eat a bowlful for lunch or serve on side with your favorite grilled dinner! One of taste of chili-lime, spicy-sweet peanuty kale-slaw and you will serve it whole summer long!
I'm super fan of coleslaw but don't care much for store-bought coleslaw which are doused heavy with mayo. So often I make mayo-free versions at home... And whenever, I get chance to bring kale home, I prefer to replace watery lettuce in coleslaw with sturdy and crispy curly green kale. Kale not only absorbs the tang of lime and sweetness of peanuts very well... but also stays crisp and crunchy!
Perfect to make-ahead! Perfect to pack for potluck!
and vegan, healthy with all health benefits of carrots and kale!
I'm sure you thinking... What's up Savita, one more salad!?
I hear yaa'll! :-)
I'm a salad girl, you guys!! If you follow my blog, I bet you are no strange to my "salad love". So I promise to share with you every new way I enjoy my daily serving of greens! How good does that sound?
I really did not plan, but this week also followed a theme - Healthy Kale Theme! Previously, you enjoyed Vegan Kale Fried Rice and Deli-style Pasta Salad with Kale. So, today I thought to continue the Kale Recipe momentum!
A little more kale does not hurt, right? Actually... more the better! :)
So, friends, with this recipe, I'm giving you more reason to enjoy fresh raw Kale this Spring-Summer season.
We are officially just 3 days away from Spring and in California, we are way past spring... unofficially ofcourse :-) You know what's the temperature outside? 85 degrees!!! Does that feel like Spring anyways?! In such warm weather, all I crave is lite and crispy salads.
This is another reason I'm repeating "salad" recipe so quickly on the blog.
With salad so fresh and delicious, it is hard to decide (for me) to say which is better - salad greens or dressing? Actually, it marriage of both that's make this salad so good.
The peanut dressing is my take on classic Asian Peanut salad dressing. Mostly, Asian peanut dressing have vinegar but I decided to add zest and juice of fresh lime to keep the fresh theme. Somehow the aroma and taste of fresh lime goes very good with sweetness of peanuts. Not just me, even my not-so-kale-fan husband loves kale when made with this peanut dressing. So you can imagine how good it is?!
Even though Peanut dressing takes just 5 minutes to blend in food processor... it can be prepared 2 days in advance. I would only recommend to use smooth peanut butter (not chunky). Also, I don't add any salt when mixing dressing. Most peanut butters already have salt. The best is to taste dressing after blending everything then adjusting salt per taste.
For kale, I like to use a bunch of green curly kale and a bunch of purple kale to bring some color to the party. Dino kale will also go great here. It's dark green leaves will add another layer of green in this salad. When in hurry, a packet of pre-chopped kale can be great time saver.
Why try this Kale salad?
1. Welcome spring with freshness and health of Kale and Carrots!
2. Eat your daily serving of greens... in a scrumptious way! :)
3. Pack a delicious Kale-Slaw for next potluck or weekend-grill out!
4. New healthy way to enjoy Coleslaw - vegan, gluten free, crisp and crunchy with delicious peanut butter!
When to make this salad?
You guys, try it today! I bet you have some peanut butter and carrots in refrigerator!? Go get some kale!! :)
Enjoy weekend!
Cheers!
-Savita
Get your "Kale" diet going with these delicious recipes;
Ingredients
- Chili Lime Peanut Dressing
- 1/4 Cup Peanut Butter (smooth peanut butter)
- 1-2 Lime (zest of one lime, about 3 tbsp juice)
- 1/2 tsp Chili Flakes (red chili flakes, adjust more or less per taste)
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 tsp Sesame Oil
- 1/4 tsp Salt (adjust per taste)
- Kale and Carrot Salad
- 2 bunch Kale (1 green curly Kale, and 1 purple kale)
- 6 Carrots (medium, peeled and shredded or sliced thin)
- 1/3 Cup Peanuts (toasted, slightly crushed)
Directions
- 1. Wash the kale, remove ribs and slice thin. Place in a bowl. Also, peel carrots, slice/shred and add to the bowl. Set aside.
- 2. In a food processor jar, add all of the Chili Lime Peanut Dressing ingredients except salt. Pulse until pureed and smooth. If looks thick, add little more lime juice. Taste and adjust salt.
-
3.
Mix the peanut dressing into kale salad and toss well. Top with toasted peanuts. Serve or keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Additional Notes:
(This salad tastes even better after an hour (or overnight) of mixing dressing into kale)
Savita's Recipe Notes:
This vegan kale-slaw kale salad is perfect to serve on side with grilled dinner. Oh, make a big batch to pack leftovers for lunch the next day!
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