KALE: A wonderful vegetable belonging to the cruciferous family.

Let me quite honest I’ve never really cooked with kale. I do know friends use a lot of it in casseroles, stir fry’s and so on. I’ve just never thought of it all. Well that’s until a few weeks ago when I visited The Farmer’s market on the Terrace by the Emirate’s Towers in Dubai.

This is indeed a fabulous initiative to promote locally grown produce in the UAE. These markets are fairly active during the winter month’s as this is typically the growing season in this region.

On arriving one Friday morning  I was delighted to see various vendors lined up. Each of them with a wonderful and heart warming display of assorted fruits and vegetable. Lovely fresh strawberries, organic carrots, spinach, a selection of free range eggs.

That’s when I spotted some fresh kale. I thought why not experiment with some and bought a whole bunch home.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it and thought why not try a simple soup.

I’m quite the soup loving person. Give me a bowl of wholesome soup and that would keep me very satiated for a while.

Well here  is how this delicious Kale and Roasted Sweet potato soup turned out .I had a couple of bowls and decided that Kale is a winner and will get into my kitchen more often.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed pepper
• 4 cups coarsely chopped roasted sweet potato( puree about a cup)
• 1 small carrot (roasted and cubed)
• 3 cups water
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 8ounce canned white beans
• 2-3 kale leaves chopped
• salt to taste
• few springs rosemary

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Add in the chopped onions and sauté for a few minutes.
3. Add the chopped and pureed sweet potatoes and stir.
4. Mix in the water and chicken broth and bring to a boil.
5. Add the diced carrots,salt and pepper.
6. Next put in the chopped kale and let this simmer for 5-8 minutes or until the kale has wilted.
7. Add the white beans, salt & pepper.
8. Garnish with few springs of rosemary