omnomnom | Kale Fried Rice!

So, I'm growing some kale in my backyard this summer (see?), which is great, because kale's one of my favorite vegetables, and kale on the stalk is highly unlikely to end up rotten sludge in the bottom on the fridge drawer, because will remain tasty and alive. But this also means I have to use it up before it overgrows its box. Oh, what a shame.

Anyway, this is my new favorite way to use kale. Whether or not it would move to another sturdy green is less clear to me; a lot relies on the kale holding up and getting a little crispy with cooking, whereas a more delicate green like spinach or chard would just get soft. Mustard greens might do it.

I don't have strict proportions, but you want:

A bunch of kale, stems removed, chopped finely (pieces less than 1 cm across)
Oil (I used a mix of olive and canola)
Chopped garlic
Crushed red pepper
Salt
Cooked brown rice (could easily sub white rice or another cooked grain); you could put it on the stove/in the cooker before you start cooking by a few minutes and probably be fine, but it's easier if it's precooked

I used about 4 cups cooked rice and about 2 cups raw kale tonight. I think. Anyway, you can vary it.

Start the oil in a large sautee/frying pan over low heat. Add the chopped garlic and crushed red pepper, to taste. Keep the temperature low enough that the garlic doesn't brown, or just barely browns. Chop the kale. You want very fine pieces--closer to something you'd chop an herb down to than a vegetable.

When the garlic is just barely sizzling, add the kale and stir. Salt heavily. The goal here is for the salt to draw the water out of kale as it cooks slowly, and for the flavors to concentrate and the sugars to carmelize. Yes, you are basically making kale chips, only fried in a pan.

Now, you leave the kale in there and stir it regularly and just...do whatever. Check on the rice. Load the dishwasher. Make whatever you're serving this with (which for me is black beans cooked with garlic, cumin, smoked paprika and chili powder). Just keep stirring the pan. You'll be able to tell when things are getting done because the kale will shrivel, darken slightly, and start to turn up at the edges. This is more obvious with curly kale than flat kale, but you'll be able to see it no matter what. This takes at least 15 minutes, occasionally more.

At that point, add your cooked rice, and move it around the pan quickly to cover it in delicious kale-and-garlic-flavored oil. If the rice is right out of the fridge, let it come to temperature in the pan; if not, cook it long enough to get the flavor really into the rice, and maybe get a little color on it.

And that's it! It's really easy. And delicious.

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