Greeting my friends

As most of you had voted on my Instagram that you would like to read on the process of making your very own kale chips on my blog, here are the steps and recipe.

However, before I start explaining the steps, let me share with you what is the history and the health benefits of kale.

Kale is related to the cabbage family and they comes in various varieties. It is one of the most common green vegetables grown in Europe as early as in the fourth century BC during the Roman empire. It was then brought to North America and Canada in the 16th and 19th century by traders. Kale is very easy to grow and provided important nutrients for our body.

A cup of raw kale:

• is only 33 calories
• contains about 3 grams of protein.
• contains Vitamins A, C and K.
• contains Folate which is a Vitamin B that’s key to brain development.
• contains Alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid.
• contains Lutein and Zeaxanthin (nutrients that give kale the deep, dark green colouring). This protects against macular degeneration and cataracts.

While there are many methods for preparing kale, I think the tastiest way to have it is in the form of a chip! Why? – It’s like munching down on a pack of potato chips while watching television but healthier!

If you go to a healthy food supermarket, you would likely to find a variety of different brand selling kale chips and with interesting flavours. However, one pack of healthy kale chips don’t come cheap. Sometimes I do like to give myself treats and try the interesting flavours. However, when you know that you can always do your own kale chips for half the price, it makes you think twice before buying that pack of kale chips off the shelves!

Now, how do we go about preparing our Homemade Kale Chips?

I rank making this one bicep out of five as it is pretty idiot proof. You just need to decide on the seasoning for your kale chips, one pack of kale and a dehydrator.

For the seasoning, you can use an instant mix or you can make your own sauce. Personally, I have done using both and it is really up to own preference on how “healthy” you want your kale chips to be. Previously I had done my own salted egg yolk paste and sambal paste.

Here are the steps

1. Get a pack of kale. Break the leaves into big chunks. (if your chunks are too small, after dehydrating, there may be nothing left!). I usually discard the stalk.

2. Add your seasoning into kale leaves and toss them evenly. For this demonstration, I just bought an instant tom yum paste to mix with the kale leaves.

3. Place the kale leaves onto the dehydrator tray. You will need to make sure the kale leaves are not touching each other.

4. Start the dehydrator and wait for 10 hours.

5. Gently separate the kale chips from the tray and put them in an air-tight container. The kale chips are very brittle and if you are not careful, your kale chips will break into smaller pieces. Remember not to start to stuff them into your mouth while removing them as well!

In order to make your own kale chips, I would definitely recommend you to invest in a dehydrator. While you can bake your kale chips in an oven, I think using a dehydrator is easier. Also, with your own dehydrator, there are endless possibilities in making your own varieties of healthy dehydrated snacks!

Till next time! Lift hard and Eat smart!