[ID: First photo shows a mixed seaweed salad topped with toasted sesame seeds; in the background are bowls of pickled daikon and kake udon. Second photo is a close-up showing light shining through the seaweed. End ID]
わかめと昆布サラダ / Wakame to konbu sarada (Seaweed and kelp salad)
A wide variety of seaweed-based salads are made by Japanese home cooks. They may contain only a mix of seaweeds and a dressing, but may also feature vegetables including cucumber, carrots, lotus root (レンコン / はす), daikon (だいこん), corn, edamame (枝豆), or onion. Dressings are as varied as cooks, and may be based around sesame oil (ごま油), rice vinegar (米酢), miso paste (みそ / 味噌), ponzu sauce (ポン酢), or mayonnaise (マヨ).
This recipe is a good way to use up reconstituted kombu and wakame that were steeped to make soup stock. It includes instructions for two dressings: one based on rice vinegar and sesame oil, and another with a sesame-mayo base.
"わかめ" or "ワカメ" ("wakame") is likely from "若" ("waka," "young") + "海布" ("me," "seaweed"); it is a particular species of edible seaweed (Undaria pinnatifida) that is farmed in Japan, Korea, and China. It is sometimes called "sea mustard" in English. Without further specification, "wakame" in a culinary context is taken to mean the leaves of the seaweed; these are the same leaves that are eaten in miso soup (みそ汁).
The etymology of "昆布" ("kombu" or "konbu") is unknown. It may be a phonetic Japanese reading of the Middle Chinese "昆布" (Mandarin: "kūnbù") (itself from "綸布" "*krūn pās," "green ribbon" + "cloth"), used to refer to various types of kelp and seaweed. In Japanese, the term refers to any of a few species of edible kelp from the Laminariaceae family.
Dried kombu is steeped to make one type of dashi ("出汁" / "だし"), a stock that is used in various soups and sauces. Once reconstituted, it may be steeped again to make 二番だし ("niban dashi," "second dashi"), sliced and simmered as one ingredient in a 煮物 ("nimono," simmered dish), or roasted and combined with other seaweeds and spices to make 振り掛け ("furikake").
"サラダ" ("sarada") is probably derived from the English "salad."
Note that the "seaweed salad" served at Japanese restaurants in the U.S. is not commonly eaten in Japan. It is shipped out to restaurants and stores pre-packaged, and is made with colored オゴノリ ("ogonori"; "agar" on ingredients lists), きくらげ ("kikurage"; "wood ear mushroom" or "fungus" on ingredients lists), and byproducts of wakame including 茎わかめ ("kukiwakame," wakame stem) and メカブ ("mekabu," wakame sprouts; both listed as "wakame" or "seaweed" on ingredients lists). You may be able to find this salad in the freezer section of your local Asian grocery store. If you want to approximate the texture of this salad at home, try buying some mixture of ogonori, kikurage, kukiwakame, mekabu, モズク ("mokuzu"), and/or ひじき ("hijiki"). Instructions for the dressing are below.
Recipe under the cut!
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Ingredients:
For the salad:
2 cups total reconstituted kombu, wakame, hijiki, or other kelp or seaweed
Vegetable additions to seaweed salads are possible and common. Try adding some cucumber, julienned carrots, sliced lotus root, sliked daikon radish, corn, edamame, or sliced onion that's been soaked in plum vinegar for 15 minutes.
If you're including cucumbers, slice them, salt them, allow them to drain in a colander for about 10 minutes, then gently squeeze them of excess liquid, to avoid making your salad watery.
For dressing 1:
1 Tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar (米酢)
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil (煎りごま油)
1/2 kosher salt
1/2 tsp vegetarian granulated sugar
1/2 tsp Japanese soy sauce (しょうゆ / 醤油) (such as Kikkoman's)
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds (いりごま)
To make U.S. restuarant-style seaweed salad, omit the soy sauce; replace the sugar with high fructose corn syrup; and add a pinch of cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp of onion powder or yeast extract, and a pinch of MSG.
For dressing 2:
2 Tbsp vegan mayonnaise
1/2 tsp unseasoned rice vinegar (米酢)
1/4 tsp dried ground shiitake mushroom, or vegetarian dashi powder
1/4 tsp vegetarian granulated sugar
Drop of djion mustard
Pinch kosher salt
1 tsp Japanese soy sauce (しょうゆ / 醤油) (such as Kikkoman's)
Drizzle of mirin (みりん)
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds, ground in a mortar and pestle or spice mill
If you eat eggs, you can replace the first five ingredients with 2 Tbsp Kewpie mayo (キューピーマヨ).
For a halal version, replace the mirin with an extra pinch of sugar.
Instructions:
For the salad:
1. Slice kombu into very thin strips. Slice wakame into thin strips, or leave as-is, as desired. Slice other flat dried seaweed into thin strips or bite-sized pieces.
For dressing 1:
1. Whisk all ingredients except sesame seeds together in a small bowl. Toss with seaweed. Top with sesame seeds and serve cold.
For dressing 2:
1. Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Toss with seaweed. Serve cold.
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In other trivial news.. I’ve been cooking heaps this Christmas! A whole two times 🙄😬 First time at making traditional Japanese cuisine and Paella too! Look at Sarah Santa’s little helper 😝 And no I did not make that Basque cheese cake which was on point! 😓
そして師走に入りサラメシに力を入れています!たったの2回ですが🙄😬創作から初肉じゃがとパエリアに挑戦。肉じゃがは正直本物を食べたことあるかないかなので、美味しいと言われたものの肉じゃがとは言えないくらい甘さと塩加減が薄かったらしいです。私自身しょっぱいもの、甘すぎるものは得意ではなく。お寿司にも殆どお醤油つけません。ステーキは醤油かポン酢少々。パエリアは本場のものをあまり食べたことないので、これも食感が違う気が…🤔
合間にもちろん、クリスマス・ディナーショーの練習しております〜😬🎄ディナーショーでは食べられない側なので…今のうちに😛
チーズケーキは絶妙なハーモニーでした!これは美味しいです。これはもちろん、作っていませんー😓
ご先祖様、指を指すのではない
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First time preparing Japanese Sashimi! 人生初の刺身料理!
日本語版は下にあるよ!
This month, my friend Junko came over with a several of the fish she caught with her fishing buddies and taught me how to prepare Japanese Sashimi and various other fish dishes.
This is a picture of the Tai fish that Junko’s friend Kazu caught! Big size! Tai in English is Sea Bream but since have never even heard of that before, I just call it Tai in English too.
Junko and her friends seem to be like professional fisherman/woman.
We starting out cutting the Tai fish first and was surprised at how well Junko could use the knife. Sine I am left-handed, she actually presented me with a universal knife so that even being a lefty, can still use it safely.
This picture is the “maboroshi” phantom fish Akou that Junko caught. She said that this fish goes for over $100 if it were to be sold in Tokyo.
Unfortunately had a little accident with the new sharp knife, but patched it up quickly and continued! haha
We tried both Ako and Tai pieces of Sashimi and they both were delicious!
After that we made Karupaccho with the Tai fish and I was surprised how it it was. It was just mixing fresh greens with the raw fish, sprinkling the Karupaccho pack on and topping it with olive oil. It tasted super fresh and wish I could eat it everyday!
After this we headed inside to prepare various dishes in the kitchen.
Junko showed how to make the beautiful fish presentation that you sometimes see at fancy restaurants.
If you look carefully, you can see that the fish is actually being propped up with a pieces of a Japanese radish and broken ends up wooden chopsticks.
This dish that Junko introduced is soy sauced dip Yazu with mayo topping and fire grilled. This was also super delicious.
We grilled some of the sections of fish in the oven which turned out to be really good too!
In addition we made fish nabe and it was delicious enjoyed the fresh with with various vegetables all cooked together in a hot pot. We ate it with Ponzu vinegar.
I was so surprised that Junko knew how to cook at various dishes and was very impressed at how delicate and thought out all of them were.
Back in the States I’m used to larges portions of pasta, tons of pizza but I’ve been realizing that Japanese food fits best for me!
Ever since coming to Japan, I have loved being able to eat fresh fish all the time. Most of the time I eat fish, it’s from the grocery store and have no idea where/how it was caught. This time it was pretty cool knowing who caught the fish and where they were caught.
Preparing all these different dishes motivated me to want to be able to catch fish and prepare it at my house! Living this close to the ocean, it’s a shame to not be able to catch delicious fish like these!
https://youtu.be/Mw-9cmbWd_U
日本語版
今月、友達Junkoが俺の家に来て友達と釣った魚を持ってきて刺身も色んな魚料理を教えにきてくれた。
この写真はJunkoの友達Kazuで釣ったの鯛。デカイ!英語では鯛はSea Breamじゃけど1回も聞いたことないけ英語でもTaiに読んどこう。
Junkoと友達はみんなプロ漁師みたい。
最初は鯛から捌きはじめてJunkoの包丁の擬実でびっくりした。自分は左利きじゃけわざわざ左利きの人でも使える包丁をプレゼントしてくれた。
この写真はJunko釣ったのアコウ(幻の魚)。東京だったらこの魚は1万以上行くと言われた。
残念ながら、新しいシャープの包丁でちょっと事故したけどバンドエイドしてから続けた。w
アコウも鯛も両方刺身で食べて美味しかった!
そのあと鯛の魚とカルパッチョを作ってみてあんな簡単なんてびっくりした。ただ野菜と新鮮魚とカルパッチョふりかけみたいなパッケージとオリブオイルだけだった。凄い新鮮な味で毎日食べたい!
次、家の中に入って台所で色んな魚料理してみた。
Junkoが時々オシャレなレストランで見る魚料理を作るのを見せてくれた。
よく見ると、魚は大根で組み立てて折れとるの割り箸でも使っとる。
この料理は焼き醤油付けたYazuとマヨ上に載せて。これもめっちゃうまかった。
他の魚の部分をもオーブンで���いてみてそれも美味しかった。
他に魚鍋も作って色んな野菜と新鮮な魚で鍋で作ったのは美味しかった!ポン酢と食べた。
Junkoが色んな料理ができて全部はあんなに繊細で作られてとても感動した。
アメリカではよく大森パスタとかピザとか食べとるけどやっぱり、和食は俺には合う!
日本に来てからよく新鮮な魚を食べれて大好き!今まで食べてる魚はだいたいスーパーから買って誰がどうやってとったのかさっぱりわからんかった。今回誰か釣ったのもどこで釣ったの知っててすごく楽しくてもっと意識的にいただけた。
こんなに魚料理見れると自分も魚を釣って、家で魚料理をできるようになりたくなってきた。せっかく海の近く住んどるのにまだこんな美味しい魚をまだ釣ってなくてもったいない!
https://youtu.be/Mw-9cmbWd_U
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