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Red kale, kamut and wild rice salad

With sun-dried tomatoes and pumpkin seeds, this salad offers a lot of texture, colour, and nutrition — either as a side dish or a light lunch. Kamut is a relative of wheat. Similar in some respect to orzo, it plumps up when cooked.

Ingredients

3 cups vegetable stock
1/4t coarse sea salt
2/3 cup kamut
1/3 cup wild rice
2T sun-dried tomatoes, diced
4 cups packed red kale, stemmed and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
2T olive oil
1T lemon juice
2T nutritional yeast
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

Bring the stock and the sea salt to a light boil in a small sauce pan with a lid.
Add the kamut, cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes.*
Add the wild rice, cover and simmer for another 45 minutes or until the moisture has been absorbed.
Remove from heat.
Add the remaining ingredients except for the nutritional yeast.
Stir until until well-combined.
Cover and let stand 10 minutes to wilt the kale.
Toss with nutritional yeast, season to taste and serve.

*If you prefer, soak the kamut overnight, and then just cook the kamut and wild rice together, reducing the stock to 2 1/2 cups.

Chickpeas, kale, and kamut with red pepper, olives, and capers

Dressed with garlic, chili and tamari, this is a simple, vibrant dish with no added oil or sugar but lots of flavour.

Ingredients

For the chickpeas, kale and kamut
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup kamut
2 cups green kale, stemmed and coarsely chopped
2 red peppers (about 1 1/2 cups), 1/2″ dice
1 cup cooked chickpeas

For the dressing
2 scallions, minced
1T fresh garlic, minced
1T tamari
1T lemon juice
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1T kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1T pickled capers, minced
1t nori flakes
1t purple dulse flakes
2T cold-milled brown flax seed
1/4t dried red chilis (or to taste)
Coarse sea salt and black pepper to taste

Optional: Chopped walnuts, sliced ripe pear, clementines, sauteed mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, will all add flavor, texture and nuance to this dish. Roasting the chickpeas separately with a little tamari and chili or the dulse and nori will also add nuance.

Directions

In a small sauce pan with a lid, toast the kamut for 2-3 minutes. Add the water and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until the water is absorbed and the kamut is soft by nicely chewy (expect about 1 hour). You could reduce cooking time a little by soaking the grain overnight.

While the kamut is finishing up, assemble the kale, red pepper and kale in a large bowl. When the kamut is ready, increase heat to medium high, add the scallions and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, and stir fry for 1 minute. Add the chickpeas, toss to coat, and stir fry for another minute. Add the lemon and tamari. Deglaze the pan. Remove from heat. Add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Add the kamut and chickpeas to the kale and red peppers and toss to combine.

Let stand 5 minutes to wilt the kale lightly. Season to taste. Dish out and serve.