Kale and curried chickpea salad with golden sesame dressing

Time for Week 2 of trying to make more satisfying lunches to take to work.

Kale and curried chickpea salad with golden sesame dressing

I got the idea for the base from this Kitchn blog post; the chickpeas are adapted from “Anti-Inflammatory Eating Made Easy” by Michelle Babb; the dressing is adapted from a Robin Asbell recipe printed in the Jan. 19, 2017, Taste section. 

The base: kale and radicchio, sliced into thin ribbons.

The topping: crispy curried chickpeas (1¾ cups cooked chickpeas, tossed with 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon turmeric and 1 teaspoon salt and then baked spread out on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until well browned). Store in an airtight container.

The dressing: ¼ cup tahini, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 pressed garlic clove, 2 tablespoons apple cider, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and ¼ teaspoon five-spice powder, all pureed in a food processor or blender.

The drill: Toss a lot, and I mean a lot more than you think you'll possibly be willing to eat, of the kale-radicchio mixture into a bowl. Top with a handful of chickpeas. Transport some of the dressing in a separate container and then mix in when you're ready to it so it doesn't turn the chickpeas soggy.

Rating: The golden sesame dressing is quite nice, and overall the dish worked OK flavor and texture-wise. The first day I took it in I didn't realize just how much the kale mixture would collapse when mixed with the dressing so I didn't have nearly enough food. And the chickpeas are crisped to more or less puff balls, which makes for a fine enough snack but they don't have much heft. I added some leftover baked tofu one day, and a sliced hard-cooked egg another day, and that helped with the satisfaction level.