Over the winter holidays, our excellent friends Blue and Bei were in town. Catching up one afternoon, Blue brought over a batch of Buddhist-made kale chips, which we proceeded to inhale.

[caption id="attachment_3154" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="(our homemade version)"][/caption]

They don't sound like they would be as awesome as they are--they're crispy, salty, and sort of cheesy-tasting--like a perfect popcorn, with just a little more substance. Of course they have the added benefit of being awesome for you. This is an especially awesome snack for folks on a raw diet, is it scratches the potato chip/popcorn/french fry itch.

We're currently in the lovely city of Austin visting Bei and Blue, and got it in our heads last night to make a batch of our own kale chips. I think they turned out just as good--if not better than--the Buddhists'.

Kale Chips

  • 2 large bunches of kale (Siberian/curly--not dinosaur/lacinato), stemmed and chopped coarsely or torn by hand
  • soy sauce
  • sesame oil
  • nutritional yeast
  • cayenne pepper (optional)

In a large bowl (or two, or three), douse the kale lightly with soy sauce and sesame oil (at a ration of about 2:1), coating well and massaging the liquids into the leaves. Sprinkle generously with nu yeast.

Fill a food dehydrator layer by layer with the kale, sprinkling lightly with cayenne, if you're using it. Dehydrate at 120 degrees for about three and a half hours,until kale is dry and crispy. Fire up a movie and enjoy the mad power of raw health goodness in the guise of a delicious snack!