Vegan Kale Caesar Salad
By Claire Georgiou, Reboot Naturopath, B.HSc ND
Just because you’re eating salad, doesn’t mean you’re making a healthy choice — typically, Caesar salad comes with a heavy dressing and deep fried bread. The only plant-based ingredient is lettuce! This salad is a healthier option: It’s full of loads of nutrients and phytonutrient compounds from the kale and snow peas, to the cashews, pumpkin seeds and chickpeas.
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 1 cup of kale leaves, chopped
- 2 cups of mixed salad leaves
- a large handful of snow peas, chopped, with their tops and string removed
For the dressing:
- 1/2 cup (75 g) raw cashews, soaked in hot water for 1 hour and rinsed
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) filtered water
- 1 tsp of lemon juice
- 1/8-1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp whole seed mustard
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp chopped capers
For the healthy croutons:
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup roasted chickpeas (spices are optional)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Line a baking tray and roast the pine nuts and pumpkin seeds for 7 minutes.
- Add all the Caesar dressing ingredients (except chopped capers) to a high-speed blender and blend until creamy. Add in chopped capers and combine well.
- To roast chickpeas, you can use the linked recipe or roast 1/2 cup of cooked or canned chickpeas, with a drizzle of olive or coconut oil, salt and pepper and cook for 30-40 minutes or until crispy.
- Throw greens into a bowl, pour and stir in the dressing and top with all your nutrient dense pumpkin seeds, pine nuts and chickpeas.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Substitutions
Kale – salad leaves
Salad leaves – lettuce
Snow peas – cucumber
Pumpkin seeds – sunflower seeds
Pinenuts – chopped almonds
Chickpeas – toasted wholemeal bread cubes
Cashews – macadamia