Nevermind, I was being lazy when I asked this. I setup a Debian VM and tested it out. Looks like there is no way to do it.
If you try to install kde-minimal it will install the following
Code:
The following extra packages will be installed:
aspell aspell-en ca-certificates consolekit dbus dbus-x11 defoma dolphin
dpkg exiv2 fontconfig fontconfig-config gcc-4.4-base ghostscript
google-gadgets-common google-gadgets-gst google-gadgets-qt
google-gadgets-xul gs-common gsfonts hal hal-info hicolor-icon-theme
hunspell-en-us install-info kaboom kappfinder kde-window-manager
kdebase-apps kdebase-bin kdebase-data kdebase-runtime kdebase-runtime-data
kdebase-workspace kdebase-workspace-bin kdebase-workspace-data
kdebase-workspace-kgreet-plugins kdelibs-bin kdelibs5 kdelibs5-data
kdepasswd kdepimlibs-data kdepimlibs5 kdm keyboard-configuration kfind
kinfocenter klipper konqueror konqueror-nsplugins konsole ksysguard
ksysguardd kwrite libaa1 libakonadiprivate1 libasound2 libaspell15
libasyncns0 libatk1.0-0 libatk1.0-data libaudio2 libaudit0 libavahi-client3
libavahi-common-data libavahi-common3 libavcodec52 libavutil49 libblkid1
libboost-program-options1.40.0 libc-bin libc-dev-bin libc6 libc6-dev
libc6-i386 libcaca0 libcairo2 libcdio10 libcelt0 libck-connector0
libclucene0ldbl libcups2 libcupsimage2 libcurl3-gnutls libdatrie1 libdb4.7
libdb4.8 libdbus-1-3 libdbus-glib-1-2 libdirac-encoder0 libdirectfb-1.2-0
libdrm-intel1 libdrm2 libeet1 libeggdbus-1-0 libeina-svn-05 libenchant1c2a
libexiv2-6 libexpat1 libfaad2 libfam0 libflac8 libfont-freetype-perl
libfontconfig1 libfontenc1 libfreetype6 libgcc1 libgcrypt11 libggadget-1.0-0
libggadget-qt-1.0-0 libgif4 libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-glx libglib2.0-0
libglib2.0-data libglu1-mesa libgnutls26 libgpg-error0 libgpgme11 libgps19
libgs8 libgsm1 libgssapi-krb5-2 libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0
libgstreamer0.10-0 libgtk2.0-0 libgtk2.0-bin libgtk2.0-common
libhal-storage1 libhal1 libhunspell-1.2-0 libical0 libice6 libidn11
libilmbase6 libiso9660-7 libjack0 libjasper1 libjpeg62 libk5crypto3
libkde4-ruby1.8 libkdecorations4 libkephal4 libkfontinst4
libknotificationitem-1-1 libkonq5 libkonq5-templates libkonqsidebarplugin4
libkrb5-3 libkrb5support0 libkscreensaver5 libksgrd4 libkwineffects1
libkworkspace4 liblcms1 liblqr-1-0 libltdl7 liblzma1 libmad0 libmagickcore2
libmagickwand2 libmng1 libmodplug0c2 libmozjs2d libmpcdec6 libmysqlclient16
libnepomukquery4 libnepomukqueryclient4 libnspr4-0d libnss3-1d libogg0
liboil0.3 libopenexr6 libopenjpeg2 libpam-ck-connector libpam-modules
libpam-runtime libpam0g libpango1.0-0 libpango1.0-common libpaper-utils
libpaper1 libpci3 libpciaccess0 libpcre3 libphonon4 libpixman-1-0
libplasma-applet-system-monitor4 libplasma-geolocation-interface4
libplasma-ruby libplasma-ruby1.8 libplasma3 libplasmaclock4 libpng12-0
libpolkit-dbus2 libpolkit-gobject-1-0 libpolkit-grant2 libpolkit-qt0
libpolkit2 libpostproc51 libprocesscore4 libprocessui4 libpth20 libpulse0
libqedje0a libqimageblitz4 libqt4-assistant libqt4-dbus libqt4-designer
libqt4-help libqt4-network libqt4-opengl libqt4-qt3support libqt4-ruby1.8
libqt4-script libqt4-scripttools libqt4-sql libqt4-sql-mysql libqt4-svg
libqt4-test libqt4-webkit libqt4-xml libqt4-xmlpatterns libqtcore4 libqtgui4
libqtruby4shared2 libqzion0a libraptor1 librasqal2 libraw1394-11 librdf0
libreadline6 libruby1.8 libsamplerate0 libsasl2-2 libsasl2-modules
libschroedinger-1.0-0 libsdl1.2debian libsdl1.2debian-alsa libselinux1
libsensors3 libsm6 libsmbclient libsmokekde4-2 libsmokeplasma2 libsmokeqt4-2
libsmokesoprano2 libsndfile1 libsolidcontrol4 libsolidcontrolifaces4
libsoprano4 libspeex1 libsqlite3-0 libssl0.9.8 libstartup-notification0
libstdc++6 libstreamanalyzer0 libstreams0 libstrigiqtdbusclient0 libsvga1
libsysfs2 libtalloc2 libtaskmanager4 libtasn1-3 libthai-data libthai0
libtheora0 libtiff4 libts-0.0-0 libudev0 libutempter0 libuuid1 libvcdinfo0
libvoikko1 libvorbis0a libvorbisenc2 libwavpack1 libwbclient0
libweather-ion4 libx11-6 libx11-data libx86-1 libxau6 libxaw7 libxcb-atom1
libxcb-aux0 libxcb-event1 libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-render0 libxcb-shape0
libxcb-shm0 libxcb-xv0 libxcb1 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxdamage1
libxdmcp6 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxfont1 libxft2 libxi6 libxine1 libxine1-bin
libxine1-console libxine1-ffmpeg libxine1-misc-plugins libxine1-plugins
libxine1-x libxinerama1 libxkbfile1 libxklavier15 libxml2 libxml2-utils
libxmu6 libxmuu1 libxpm4 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxslt1.1 libxss1 libxt6
libxtst6 libxv1 libxvmc1 libxxf86dga1 libxxf86misc1 libxxf86vm1 locales
mysql-common openssl oxygen-icon-theme oxygencursors pciutils phonon
phonon-backend-xine plasma-dataengines-workspace
plasma-scriptengine-googlegadgets plasma-scriptengine-javascript
plasma-scriptengine-python plasma-scriptengine-qedje
plasma-scriptengine-ruby plasma-scriptengine-superkaramba
plasma-scriptengine-webkit plasma-scriptengines plasma-widget-folderview
plasma-widgets-workspace pm-utils pmount powermgmt-base psfontmgr
python-kde4 python-qt4 python-sip4 python-support qt4-qtconfig radeontool
raptor-utils redland-utils ruby1.8 shared-mime-info soprano-daemon
systemsettings tsconf ttf-dejavu ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra udev
util-linux vbetool x-ttcidfont-conf x11-common x11-utils x11-xkb-utils
x11-xserver-utils xauth xbitmaps xdg-utils xfonts-base xfonts-encodings
xfonts-utils xkb-data xserver-common xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core
xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm
xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xserver-xorg-video-i128
xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64 xserver-xorg-video-mga
xserver-xorg-video-neomagic xserver-xorg-video-nv
xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-trident
xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vesa
xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xterm xulrunner-1.9.1
So it looks like the plasma libs and apps are part of kde-base and there just is no way around it.