I first made this salad when I was hosting the Business Intelligence team from my corporate life for dinner. One of the people had been suffering with GI issues and was following a FODMAP protocol. I did some research and found this salad recipe that turned out to be a big hit. Since then it has become my go-to when bringing a dish to someone’s house in addition to making it at least once a month for our own enjoyment. The recipe that started it all can be found here: Original Recipe
But, since I am a lazy cook who dislikes using, and hence dirtying, measuring tools I have adapted it into this version. Most importantly if you plan on having this dish make it at least one day before it’s needed! The kale needs that much time to tenderize in the lemony goodness of the dressing.
Gather your ingredients.
- 1 Bag of Chopped Kale
- 1 or 2 pints of grape or cherry tomatoes
- 3 lemons
- Olive Oil
- Dijon mustard
- Cooked Quinoa
- Salt
Gather your equipment:
- Food Processor
- Cutting Board
- Juicer
- Whisk
- Measuring cup
- Knife that will cut tomatoes
- Small and Large Bowl
- Storage containers
I start by rinsing off all of the grape tomatoes and then spreading them out on paper towel so they will be sufficiently dry when I want to cut them in half and add them to the kale.
What about the cooked quinoa you ask? I make it regularly in batches so I have it on hand but this recipe probably uses about 3 cups based on the fact that when I make the batch of quinoa I cook 2 cups, which should yield about 6 cups and I use half in the recipe. Don’t have the much quinoa available? Just use less of all the other ingredients.
As I take the kale from the bag to transfer to the food processor I pull the leaves from the thicker stems. I fill the bowl of the food processor and pulse for a few seconds to get a fine chop. The finely chopped quinoa gets dumped into your large bowl. The full bag of kale usually results in performing the food processor step about three times.
In the small bowl combine 1/2 cup olive oil, the juice from 3 lemons or about 1/3 cup. Then what I would describe as 2 large glugs of dijon mustard, probably about 3 tablespoons-ish. Whisk together until it looks almost creamy.
Add the quinoa to the kale. Add the halved grape tomatoes to the kale. Gently fold it all together. If you think you want more quinoa or tomato go ahead and add it now until you get a consistency that is appealing. Keep in mind that once the dressing is drizzled in it will compress quite a bit though.
Give the dressing another quick whisk and then drizzle over the bowl of combined ingredients. Either grind or shake a decent amount of salt over top. Gently combine it all together.
Split the results between a couple of storage containers so that there isn’t too much mass compressing on the bottom of a single container. No scientific evidence but in my mind this makes it keep better. Enjoy as a side dish, main dish or my favorite; adding hard boiled egg and/or chopped avocado!
