Easy creamed kale in cashew sauce
In this tasty side dish, hearty kale is enveloped in a creamy & flavorful cashew sauce. It's simple enough for a weeknight dinner, but feels fancy enough for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or other holiday gatherings.Depending on the size of your kale and appetites, this side dish will serve 2 to 4 people.
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 67kcal
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch curly kale leaves roughly chopped with ribs removed
- ¾ cup water plus more for steaming
- ¼ cup raw cashews soaked if necessary
- ¾ teaspoon tamari
- ½ teaspoon white miso paste
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast flakes
- ½ teaspoon avocado oil or your preferred neutral-flavored oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- Pinch of salt
- Dash of pepper
Instructions
- Fill a pot with steamer insert with about an inch of water. Bring to a boil. Put kale in steamer insert and cover with lid. Steam for 3 to 5 minutes, until it is bright green. Then remove from heat and set aside.
- While the kale is steaming, make the creamy cashew sauce. Into a high speed blender, add ¾ cup water, tamari, white miso paste, and nutritional yeast flakes. Blend until completely smooth. (Stop and scrape down the sides of the blender, if necessary.)If your bunch of kale is especially small and/or if you're using a standard blender, see the notes below for more instructions.
- Bring a skillet to a medium heat and add oil. Add minced garlic to the skillet and saute for a couple minutes, until fragrant.
- Add steamed kale to the skillet. Use a spatula to fully combine the kale with the garlic.
- Lower the heat and add the creamy cashew sauce. Use a spatula to totally incorporate the sauce with the kale. Allow the sauce to reduce and cook down. If your kale bunch is large, this won't take long at all - 30 seconds to a minute. If your kale bunch is small, there will be more liquid vs. kale. So you'll have to cook it longer to reduce the liquid.
- Once the sauce has reduced, turn off the heat. Add a pinch of salt and dash of pepper. Then serve.
Notes
Curly kale can be replaced with any kind of kale that you enjoy.
Although kale stems can be eaten, I prefer this dish without them. While you’re washing the kale, pull the leaves off of the stems with your hands. Then chop the leaves.
Small kale bunch instructions
Even though kale is always sold in bunches, the size of bunches can vary quite a bit. If your bunch of kale is especially small, you may not want quite so much sauce. For less sauce, reduce the amount of raw cashews to 3 Tablespoons and water to ½ cup. All of the other ingredients can stay the same.
Standard blender instructions
If you're using a high-speed blender, you don't need to soak the raw cashews before blending. However, if you're using a standard blender, you may need to help the blender to break down the raw cashews fully.
Choose one of these 4 options to soften the cashews. #1 is my preferred option.
- Grind the dry raw cashews in a coffee grinder until they have the consistency of flour. Then add them to the blender with the other ingredients.
- Put raw cashews in a bowl, cover them in water, and allow them to soak for a few hours to soften them. Then drain the cashews and add them to the blender with the other ingredients.
- Boil the raw cashews in water for 15 minutes. Then drain & add to the blender.
- Microwave raw cashews in water for 2 minutes. Then drain & add to the blender.
Nutrition
Calories: 67kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 111mg | Potassium: 187mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 3248IU | Vitamin C: 31mg | Calcium: 91mg | Iron: 1mg
