..where teens can learn to cook restaurant quality meals for the family
Danny Trejo’s Kale Salad
Remember Danny Trejo from the movies? (The fella above).Now, imagine him creating a kale salad. Hard to do isn't it? But if he did, just imagine what it'd be like! He'd have to put his own hard-man reputation on the line and fully stand by that kale salad because it's so amazing.Well, we can confirm it is. And we contacted his agent to get permission to include his recipe on UpCooked, and they said yes!First, let's explain. Aside of his movies, he's a keen chef. And he set up a chain of successful restaurants across the UK called "Trejo's Tacos". He also launched a book of his recipes:Trejo's Tacos Book – (rated 5 stars on Amazon and we agree!)*Note, we get a tiny commision if you buy from this link but it's no extra cost to you! It just helps us keep the site running.We bought the book, cooked lots of the recipes, and they were all amazing. Then we discovered he opened a "Trejo's Tacos" in London, so I booked a table and headed over. Again, highly recommended.So, back to the kale salad, I thought "let's give it a go". And again, it's consitently amazing. And Ellie has made it too following our UpCooked version of instructions below.Who'd have thought Danny Trejo would make a kale salad? It'll be Chuck Norris's Light Lettuce Lunch next! Or Bruce Lee's Camomile Tea…
ADJUST SERVINGS
Most of our recipes are for 4 people. You can check and adjust the serving size by clicking on the red number above.
BEFORE YOU START
This kale salad is unique because it combines the robust texture of Tuscan kale with a variety of fresh vegetables and a tangy vinaigrette, making it both filling and refreshing. And because Danny Trejo made it. In fact, mostly that.
GET SHOPPING!
This is a reminder to check what ingredients you need to buy and add them to your shopping list. It’s good to do your own food shopping, but at the very least, you’re head chef, so send a family member out to the shops for you!
GET ORGANISED
Remember ‘Skill 2’ of the Big 5: Become super-organised.:
Add your own private notes:
Equipment
- Medium bowl
- Knife
- Cutting board
- 1 Steamer
- 1 sieve
- 1 Small frying pan
- 1 wooden or plastic spoon
Ingredients
- 2 medium bunches Kale
- ½ small cucumber diced
- ½ small red bell pepper/capsicum diced
- ½ cup canned black beans drained and rinsed
- ½ cup halved cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup roasted corn
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup fresh coriander (or just a small bunch to taste)
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1/4 lime (for the juice)
- 2 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- 1 lemon cut into 4 wedges
Instructions
Prep
- Wash your hands.
- Gather all necessary utensils.
- Wash and drain the coriander (or spin it dry)
- Wash the ½ small cucumber and set aside to drain
- Wash the 2 medium bunches Kale and set aside to drain
- Wash the ½ small red bell pepper/capsicum and set aside to drain
- Wash the cherry tomatoes and set aside to drain
- Dice the cucumber and red pepper
- Halve the cherry tomatoes
- Cut your 1 lemon into wedges (down the length into halves, then down the length of each half into quarters).
- Once the coriander is dry enough, roughly chop it
- Gather as much kale as you want in the salad. Your goal is to get it as enjoyably edible as possible. So remove the thick stalks, and cut it into ribbons.
- Then, test it to see if it's easy to eat. That means eat some, chew, and if it's easy to eat then it's good to go in the salad bowl.If not you might need to steam if for a short while to get it soft enough to enjoy. If so, follow the instructions in this video of how to steam brocolli. You do it just the same, but just get the kale down to the right level to enjoy.
- Cook the corn on the cob (or it's ok to use tinned corn if you prefer!) But you want to get it charred and tasty. To do that, follow our how-to here.Note: you might need some help from someone to do this! Once the corn is charred, hold the cob at one end over a chopping board. Take your chef's knife, and slice the layer of corn off slowly. Keep rotating it so that you can slice every little bit of corn off gradually, and then collect all those lovely bits of charred corn in a bowl.
- Mix up the lime, coriander vinaigrette. To do that, grab a bowl, and add the 1/4 cup fresh coriander
- Add the 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- Squeeze in the juice from about 1/4 lime (it doesn't matter if more or less – do it to suit!)
- Mix up the vinaigrette and taste test a small bit. Does it need more lime juice or mayo? If so add a bit.
- You're going to prepare 1/4 cup fresh coriander. Add your pumpkin seeds to a dry frying pan.
- Turn the heat onto medium, and stand over them with a wooden or plastic spoon. Stir them every so often. You do NOT want them to burn, but just lightly toast. It should take just 2-3 minutes tops.
Let's Cook!
- Or rather in this case, we're really just assembling the salad. Start by adding the kale to the salad bowl.
- Add the diced cucumber to the bowl.
- Add the diced red bell pepper to the bowl.
- Add the black beans to the bowl. You should pour them from the can into a sieve first, then rinse them thoroughly with cold water from the tap. Then shake the water off and add to the salad bowl. If you're not going to eat the rest of the beans in the next day or so, just put them all in! It won't ruin the recipe! It'll just go even further so you can have seconds!
- Add the halved cherry tomatoes to the bowl.
- Add the roasted corn to the bowl.
- Sprinkle the 1 tsp salt over the ingredients
- Add the vinaigrette (the mayo, lime and coriander)
- Mix well to combine. Really well!
- Divide the salad among individual bowls.
- Sprinkle the toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) over each serving.
- Serve with the lemon wedges on the side.
Please share with us how you went!We need your feedback so we can improve the recipes and help others succeed! Please let us know by leaving a comment 🙂