Excuse the kale pun, but I couldn't resist - any more than I could resist sneaking a few more jalapenos into my mex style salad. Toasted corn, sour cream and jalapenos make anything mexican to me. I can't get enough of that flavour pairing! Whilst my photos don't do it justice (note to self: teach yourself food photography over the summer holidays) this was one of the yummiest salads I've ever made, especially with the crowning achievement of finally nailing the vegan sour cream.
The real trick was getting all the ingredients together first ready to assemble the salad together, in layers, kinda like lasagne. I've taken to cooking extra black beans when I use them so I can have them the next day in a salad, so that was easy. I am not a fan of tinned anything - it's cheaper to buy in bulk and less salt too. Cook according to directions on the pack. I often bring them to boil in the morning, wrap them in a towel to keep the heat in, and by evening they don't take long to cook. They are one of the only beans my husband can tolerate, so we eat them often, and gladly. They are full of protein, and may help protect the bones, which is something we need on a largely vegan diet! Next is to toast the corn and to make the chipotle olive pepper sauce and the sour cream. I've been buying the most amazing plain sugar free coconut yoghurt which gives this 'sour cream' a tang it was missing before, even though I was using limes.
Chipotle Olive Pepper Sauce
Dry fry or roast one red pepper (capsium) til tender.
Blend with a handful of green olives and tinned chipotles, or if you don't have any, two tbsps of spanish smoked paprika. I had found the olives already marinated - they were a revelation I tell you. A revelation.
Toasted Corn
I love toasting corn - makes for a far better, smokier flavour. I simply pan fry it without oil, but you could barbecue it, or plan ahead and roast it with your vegetables ready to shave the cob the next day for this meal.
Plant Based Sour Cream
A handful of almonds
A handful of cashews
2 small limes or lemons
2 large tbsps of coconut yoghurt
Blend - if too runny, add a little coconut flour to thicken it up. You might even like to blend this with coriander to make a creamy green sauce.
Kale Chips
As hipster as this sounds, you gotta massage your kale for this one. Tear into chip size pieces and drizzle with olive oil, salt and a good liberal sprinkling of smoked paprika. Massage into the leaves, then bake in a hot oven, making sure you don't burn the first tray like me. Those babies cook fast.
Then simply assemble your ingredients...
You can use whatever vegetables you like in between the layers - I had a few varieties of fresh garden lettuce, but I was out of cucumber, coriander and tomato which would have also been amazing in this. It's nice layered twice, so that you get a good dose of flavour all the way through. Lots of jalapenos, pleased - and liberal spoonfuls of that insanely delish sour cream. Honestly, it totally beats dairy sour cream! I dare you to try it next time!
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After having watched 'The Game Changer' on Netflix about plant based diets, I felt all inspired again in the kitchen. There seemed a lot of pre-formed vegetable proteins and vegan cheeses on that show - that's not how I learned to vegetarian cook, which was basically everything from scratch. In those days of course there wasn't a lot of vegan products on the market - TVP (textured vegetable protein), vegie sausages and canned nutmeat (ew) was about all there was. There's sooo many products out there now it's easy to be vegan, but to be honest, I prefer most things from scratch, and it's more fun that way.
My folks watched Game Changer too, and laughed it wasn't anything they didn't know already. They've been vego since the '70's, and sparse dairy, but watching this reminded them wwhy they do it, especially the inflammatory properties of meat, which Dad does not need as he needs to be as in good a shape as possible to ward off his cancer. I wonder if a vegetarian diet kept the cancer at bay as long as it did.
Did you watch Game Changer? What did you think of it?
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I want some!! :) Looks amazing and you described it so well that I could almost taste it.
O... that looks tasty... and healthy too 😘
Lovely and delicious looking salad treat yumyumyum
What a fantastic combo of ingredients!!! and yes lol agreed, it did somewhat resemble lasagne.
It's a good one - you could barbecue your corn at your braaii (I'm sure I've got that wrong) and use it in a mexy salad the next day!
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I love me some Mexican food...this looks pretty good...Although I'm not a fan of kale mostly. I'll eat it, just don't love it.
Stop making me want to cook for you! I seriously think you would like the way I cook it ;)
Well, I'm happy to eat, so seems a match made in food heaven...😂
Fantastic way to get your kale on
Kale chips are the BEST!
I want kale chips and the apple all of the time, but unfortunately, my oven still was broken for now. I try to save my money to bringing new oven into my kitchen. Hope new years make my dream come true. :)
I hope so too!!!
I totally agree about making things fROM scratch, although there is not always time for that. And yes, the market is changing by the minute with so many new products, even since 2011, when I became vegan. I was three years vegetarian prior to that. And, I have to check that movie on Netflix, I am surprised I didn't know about it.
Anyway, this Mexi-kale-y Mama Salad of yours is quite the creation! I am definitely inspired and I will be experimenting in January when all the Holiday stuff is over. I love Mexican food and it's time to make some new recipes. I never tried to make kale chips before, so that is also something to include on the list. Great recipe my Dear, I bet it was mouthwatering 😊
Wow that is quite the compliment! Thankyou. I bet you can make it prettier than mine with your photography skills! It made the 'I would be happy to be served this at a restaurant' bar. X
You are most welcome my Dear and I agree, this would be perfect item for a vegan restaurant menu 😊
Yummy yummy yummy. You must love to cook. I'm a bit over it, having done it for a living for more than 40 years. I tend to stick to simple recipes, but you make me want to do this.
Question about the black beans - what is this they don't take long to cook?! I do the soaking thing but they still take AT LEAST 10 HOURS to cook. You bring them to a boil, then keep them warm all day and finish them off at night?
Yeah it never takes me that long! Boil, wrap in towel to insulate, simmer for 45 minutes or so. Try and see!
I definitely have uninspired times. Salads like this are so easy when you can't REALLY be bothered cooking!
M-m-m! Looks so delicious and now I have a new dish to try with my kale chips which i a huge amount of!
Thanks for sharing!
Never watched the game changer, seems I'm not watching much of any show any more got so much other stuff going on for my screen time.
Pass me a bowl, please! Massaging kale really is a game changer (pun intended). ;) That and having nice fresh kale. Blows your mind how much better it tastes! I'm dreaming of fresh corn now, too. I keep joking around about how I wish we could blow out the backyard and just turn it all into a big garden, haha. So many things I would love to grow in our own property, but I really can't complain with the farmers market so close at hand with more things than I could ever think to grow on my own.
I did enjoy Game Changers as it came from a different perspective than some of the other documentaries I've seen. Kind of like your family, I already knew a lot of it but I always like to keep getting re-inspired as to my "why". It's got a lot of people talking and thinking, which is always a good thing in my opinion!
Yeah totes... convo is necessary! I still think @nateonsteemit needs to watch it so he doesnt kill his avo with bacon. I dare him to try a month plant based and see how he feels.
Do it! Rip up the yard! But then, its pretty time consuming and you have the best farmers markets!!!!
Haha, yeah I stayed well away from where that avocado conversation went! 😜 I'll stick with my avocado toast thanks.
saludos. Esos granos negros en mi país se llaman caraotas negras. También tenemos rojas y blancas. Todas son deliciosas.
La forma en que las ablando para cocinar, es colocar los granos en agua suficiente, para cubrirlas. Durante toda la noche. Al día siguiente desechar el agua y cocinar en la forma que te guste.
Regards. Those black beans in my country are called black beans. We also have red and white. All are delicious.
The way to soften them for cooking, is to place the grains in enough water, to cover them. All night long. The next day discard the water and cook in the way you like.
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so tasty, never tried almond and cashews for vegan sour cream normally use cashews but will try both next time. thanks for sharing
I normally use only cashews, but thought I would do something a bit different this time and I am glad I did! They were roast almonds too.
Oh, and check your spelling of HEALTHY.
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this looks so good, I love Mexican food and hope to get there again with my kids. I will have to try that sour cream yum xxxx