I had a lovely dinner recently at the Farmington Country Club on my visit with friends Kris and Bob in Charlottesville, Virginia. For starters we shared some kale chips, which were lightly battered and seriously moreish, unlike any other kale chips I'd had.
Of course being the foodies that we are we drilled down on the recipe, and were told the batter was made with chickpea flour. The assistance pretty much stopped there, I suspect the recipe is a much guarded state secret. I emailed and asked if they might be willing to share it with a visitor from New Zealand, but no such luck. Didn't even get a reply!
Upon returning home to Struan Farm well, you know me. I decided to do some homework. I discovered a recipe for Crispy Spiced Kale by Martha Rose Shulman that looked suspiciously like the recipe for the kale chips we had, and decided to experiment:
These were absolutely similar in terms of consistency, now I'll just need to recruit Kris to help me hone in on the seasoning. The recipe called for Aleppo chile, cumin, garam masala and ground coriander with fresh scallions. I think the ones we had might have had parmesan cheese sprinkled on top, but my memory could be faulty. Need to check with the locals.
The batter is made with chickpea flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and sparkling water. The trick is getting the oil very hot before the battered kale goes in, it's the first time I actually used a thermometer to make sure it was hot enough. These are reminiscent of pakoras, so enough for a light meal for me when I'm on my own.
Comments