Today’s the day to share a recipe for kale chips. And that’s because today’s a special day: it’s National Kale Day! You didn’t know? Me, neither – I just learned that from Twitter!
These vegan sour cream and onion kale chips are inspired by the amazing Doug McNish and his book, Eat Raw, Eat Well. If you’re skeptical of eating raw or about the idea of vegan sour cream, I’d understand – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it! The first time I had the original version was at Terroir (a conference for those in the food/ restaurant business in Ontario) when Doug served samples f these to a roomful of near carnivores.
This recipe is simple to make but has two potential disadvantages: to make it I used a dehydrator and high-speed blender. Both are amazing pieces of equipment but require an initial investment. If you don’t have either one, this recipe will be difficult to make.
If you were missing either, you could:
- Use a high-speed coffee/ spice grinder to make the sour cream (I’ve done this before). Your food processor probably isn’t fast enough but a coffee grinder is. You’ll have to make several batches.
- Dehydrate the chips in your oven. Most home ovens will not operate under 200 degrees (we dry these at 125 degrees in order to keep the nutrients) and an oven will generally only allow you to dry two trays of kale at a time. We dried 7 trays of kale with this recipe.
If you have the equipment, this is easy to make, maintain the nutritional benefits of the ingredients, taste awesome and will store well in jars on your shelf.
VEGAN SOUR CREAM TOPPING – INGREDIENTS
Don’t be afraid of the word ‘topping’ -all of the ingredients are real. If you want something that tastes more like sour cream, skip the last 3 ingredients:
- 2 cups of raw, unsalted cashews
- 1/4 cup of lemon juice (about a half lemon)
- 2 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups dried green onion (replace with 3 cups of raw green onion if you wish)
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- 0.5-1 tablespoon hot pepper flakes
VEGAN SOUR CREAM TOPPING – INSTRUCTIONS
- Soak cashews under cold water for 30-60 minutes.
- Drain cashews and rinse under running water until the water runs clear (which should be right away).
- Add all ingredients in a high-speed blender and mix on high until you have a sour cream-like texture.
SOUR CREAM AND ONION KALE CHIPS – INGREDIENTS
- 2-2.5 cups of sour cream topping (described above)
- 1 giant head of kale (3 or 4 ho-hum grocery store versions or a giant head from a farmer’s market)
SOUR CREAM AND ONION KALE CHIPS – INSTRUCTIONS
- Clean the kale and rip the leaves from the stems (don’t worry about making equal-sized pieces; once it’s dried it will beak easily).
- Drain and dry the kale.
- Add the sour cream and onion topping to the kale in a large bowl. Mix with your hands (it’s messy, fun and it works!)
- Place in a dehydrator at 125 degrees; it will dry in 6-10 hours depending on how much kale is on each tray.
Store on shelf in a jar with a lid.
The entire process takes about 10 minutes and we ended up with the equivalent of 4-5 bags of chips worth or kale chips for around $7. They also taste awesome and are a healthier option.