Salad Booster

By Alqualonde

I'm going to encourage you to embrace this seasoning enthusiastically. You don't want to skimp. A pinch isn't really the spirit, really go for it. I use a couple teaspoons on a rice bowl, same goes for a good-sized salad or stir-fry. Also, it's a nice little treat to hand off to friends :)

Ingredients

• 2 sheets nori seaweed
• 2 oz kale (8-10 leaves), stems and center ribs removed
• 1/4 cup / 1 oz / 30g sunflower seeds
• zest of one lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• OPTIONAL ADD IN
• 1/4 teaspoon sansho pepper (optional)
• sea salt to taste
• dried herbs
• bee / fennel pollen

Preparation

Step 1

Heat the oven to 300F / 150C with racks in the top and bottom third. Wash the kale well, and pat dry thoroughly with a clean dish towel. Arrange the kale in a single layer on one parchment-lined baking sheet, and the nori, sunflower seeds, and lemon zest on another. I often tear the nori into pieces so it's easier to arrange.

Place both sheets in the oven until everything is nicely toasted. Remove the sunflower seeds, lemon zest, and nori after about 20 minutes (keep a close eye on things). And remove the kale after that, it typically takes about 5 minutes longer. Let all the ingredients cool and crisp.

Crumble the nori and kale into a large mortar and pestle along with 1 tablespoon of the sunflower seeds. Pound until finely ground. Alternately, you can pulse in a food processor. Work in the dried lemon zest and pepper flakes (and sansho pepper if you're using it), and add the remaining sunflower seeds. Blend until the seeds are broken up just a bit.