If you love
sushi (like I do), then at some point, you’ve likely eaten seaweed salad. At
first, it sounds kinda gross. Seaweed? No thanks. Then, at another point, you
realize that you’re eating seaweed with your sushi maki (nori, hello?). It is
right at that point that you become more open to seaweed salad. So you try it.
It is delicious…slightly chewy, with a delicate roasty…or is it sweet? Or
vinegary?...flavor. It looks so simple, but is so fresh and tasty. You eat up
the meager (what seems like 4 tablespoons-worth) serving and move on to your
sushi. Eventually, the bill arrives, and you realize that THOSE 4 TABLESPOONS
COST ABOUT EIGHT BUCKS. (If you’re lucky. I’ve seen higher…) It is right there
at that point when seaweed salad becomes a delicious but unpurchasable
appetizer. Anathema, if you will. Well, today is your lucky day. I’ve got the
recipe for you…and you can make it for about 2 cents a serving. Ok, I’m exaggerating…but
a 2 oz bag of wakame costs about $2 here, and that is the main ingredient. One
of those bags will make entirely too much seaweed salad. You will not use it
all at once. Or…maybe you will…this recipe does freeze.
Ingredients
for about four 1/3c servings
1/3c (about
¾ ounce) dried wakame (yields about 1 1/3c when rehydrated)
3T rice
vinegar
3T soy
sauce
2t sesame
oil
1t sugar
2T sesame
seeds (any combination of toasted and untoasted is fine—I like 1T of each)
Dash red pepper
flakes
1. Soak the
dried wakame in a bowl with enough water to cover, and then some. Wait about
5-7 minutes. Do not just throw the dried seaweed in some water and walk away
for an hour—the texture gets a bit too un-firm.
2. Meanwhile,
mix the rest of the ingredients (except the sesame seeds and red pepper flakes)
in a small bowl.
3. Drain
the seaweed and press/squeeze out the excess water. You don’t have to go nuts,
but you don’t want sopping wet seaweed or the dressing will taste really washed
out.
4. Mix the
dressing, seeds, and red pepper flakes into the seaweed. Enjoy!
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