Stir-Fried Kale with Bacon
In this recipe, the kale is stir-fried in delicious salty bacon and simple aromatics. With kale’s firm and somewhat tough leaves, it is actually a wonderful candidate for a stir-fry. It can withstand a longer cooking time without being overcooked or turning yellow, compared to the usual greens used in a Chinese stir-fry.
More Kale Recipes:
And one won’t have to worry too much about wok hei (“breath of the fire” in Cantonese) in this stir-fry, as a quick cooking time on high heat is not really necessary. So it’s stir-frying at a relaxed pace for a change … totally my kind of cooking ^^
I torn the kale leaves to large bite-sized pieces (see above). You can save the stalks for making smoothies or vegetable stock. I blanch these kale leaves in boiling water before adding to the wok. That will shorten the cooking time and still yield tender leaves after stir-frying. If you’re lazy to blanch the kale, you can cut the leaves to small pieces (long strips) to add directly to the stir-fry.
To enjoy the full flavour of bacon in this dish, the bacon must be cooked in oil (its own + some olive oil) until crisp and most of its fats rendered out (see above; this is about 3/4 done). The bacon shouldn’t be pale or soft when cooked. If the bacon is done correctly, the final kale dish will taste bacon-heavenly.
This is great as a vegetable side-dish, as an appetizer or as a salad base with toppings.
Kale with Bacon Stir-fry Recipe
If you don’t wish to blanch the kale before adding to the wokpan (step 1), cut them to small pieces (long strips) and add a small splash of water or chicken stock when stir-frying.
Enjoy this dish on its own, as a side dish or a salad base.
Ingredients:
- 75 grams coarsely torn kale leaves*
- 3 slices (50 grams) streaky bacon cut to small pieces
- 1/2 + 1/2 tbsp olive oil divided
- 3 garlic cloves sliced thinly
- 3 shallots sliced thinly
- 1 tbsp dried chilli flakes to taste
- 1/8 tsp garlic salt to taste (or a tiny pinch of sea salt)
- sea salt to taste; only if needed
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
*Leaves from approximately 5 large stalks of curly kale, de-stemmed.
Directions:
- Blanch the kale. Bring a pot of water with 1 tsp sea salt added to boil. When the water is boiling, add kale leaves to cook for 3 minutes. Drain the kale on a strainer and press out the excess liquids.
- Cook the bacon & aromatics. Spread out cut bacon in a wide frying pan. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp olive oil over them. Fry the bacon in medium high heat until the bacon is crisp and most of its fats rendered out. Push the fried bacon to the side of the pan. Add the remaining olive oil to the pan. Add garlic, shallots and chilli flakes; fry them until the garlic just turned light golden.
- Stir-fry the kale. Add blanched kale and garlic salt. Stir-fry briefly until everything is evenly mixed and the kale is softened to liking. Season to taste with salt (only if required) & black pepper.