Buckwheat salad with kale and sweet potatoes
A nourishing and incredibly satisfying buckwheat salad with kale, sweet potato, pecans and a delicious garlicky red pepper dressing.
Ingredients
Buckwheat
- 125 gm buckwheat raw
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 250 ml water
- 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
Roasted sweet potato
- 2 sweet potatoes medium sized
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon jaggery powder
- 1 tsp curry powder
Parsley mint relish
- 1 cup mint leaves with stems removed
- 1 cup fresh parsley
- 1 lime
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
Blanched kale
- 2 cups roughly chopped kale with stems
- 6 cups boiling water
Roasted pecans
- ½ cup pecans
Dressing
- ½ cup The best garlicky red pepper sauce
Instructions
Roast the sweet potatoes
- Preheat the oven to 220 C (425 F).
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Wash, peel and roughly chop the sweet potatoes into one-inch cubes.
- Transfer all cubes to the baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, salt, jaggery powder and curry powder for flavour.
- Bake for 30 minutes and let it cool.
Cook the buckwheat
- Wash and drain the buckwheat groats.
- Transfer to a medium-sized saucepan and toast the buckwheat until nutty on a medium flame.
- Add salt and water (two times the amount of buckwheat).
- Bring this to boil and simmer on a low flame for 15 minutes, covered with a lid.
- Once done, let it cool on a plate till it comes to room temperature.
Parsley and mint relish
- To a food processor or small blender, add fresh loosely packed parsley, fresh basil leaves, fresh mint leaves, lime zest, lime juice, salt, olive oil and a garlic and blend/mix on high until a loose paste forms.
Blanch the kale
- To a large bowl, add chopped kale and boiling water until all leaves are fully submerged.
- Let it sit for about 2 minutes and then drain the water. If using kale without stems, soaking in boiling water for a minute should be sufficient. Then wash with cold water to stop the cooking process.
Roast the pecans
- Preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F) and line an oven tray with parchment paper. Lay the pecans on the baking tray and bake for 5 minutes. Once done, let them cool to room temperature.
Assemble the salad
- Add the cooked buckwheat, blanched kale and the parsley and mint relish to a large salad bowl and mix/massage well. To this, add the roasted sweet potato and roasted pecans. Combine everything well and drizzle with the garlicky red pepper sauce. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Nutrition values are a rough estimate for guidance.
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This recipe is highly customisable. Don't have kale or sweet potato? Don't worry! You can use what's available in your kitchen.
In place of kale, I sometimes use:
- blanched spinach
- lettuce
- mixed leaves
- or fresh cucumber slices
- roasted broccoli
- oven-roasted peppers
- roasted cauliflower
- pan-roasted tofu
- roasted zucchini
- or, roasted beets