JAPANESE SEAWEED & TOFU SALAD RECIPE

My husband’s grandparents came from a beautiful chain of islands off the south of mainland Japan called Okinawa. Okinawa is best known outside of Japan for enjoying one of the highest life expectancies in the world. This is mainly attributed to their healthy diet which includes tofu, seaweed and sweet potato.

Although Ireland has always had an abundant supply of seaweed it's only recently that we've started to take advantage of this wonderful natural resource. Nowadays, we have a collection of Irish seaweed companies including the Wild Irish Sea Veg, Cleggan Seaweed Company, Carraig Fhada Seaweed and VOYA). 

If you'd like to learn about seaweed and how to cook with it an Irish lady called Prannie Rhatigan wrote a fantastic book called "Irish Seaweed Kitchen".

Here's a very basic recipe of mine using seaweed and tofu.

INGREDIENTS:
3 medium size tomatoes (cut into bite size pieces)
1 tbsp dried wakame seaweed (soak in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes)
280g tofu/ small block of tofu (preferably organic GM free)

Salad dressing
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp wasabi
Half tsp brown sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Put all the salad dressing ingredients into an empty jam jar, put the lid on and shake well until the sugar is dissolved. 
2. Cut the block of tofu into small bite size cubes.
3. Take the wakame out of the water and place on kitchen paper to remove excess water.
4. Place the tofu, wakame and tomato pieces in a salad bowl.
5. Pour the dressing over the salad when ready to eat.

Where can I buy seaweed?
Seaweed is available in Asian markets and health stores and more recently it's available in supermarkets. My local fish shop has a great selection of seaweed.

TIPS:
Depending on your own taste add more or less wasabi and sugar.

NOTES:
See my miso soup recipe with wakame and tofu.
For more info on seaweed see www.seaweed.ie

QUICK JAPANESE RECIPE: FIG & GOAT'S CHEESE SALAD WITH JAPANESE DRESSING

SALAD INGREDIENTS:
100g mixed salad leaves
2 fresh figs (cut into bite size pieces)
80g soft goat's cheese (use a teaspoon to roll into small balls)
3 radish (thinly sliced)

JAPANESE DRESSING INGREDIENTS:
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp brown sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pour all the Japanese salad dressing ingredients into an empty jam jar, put the lid on and shake well. 
2. Toss all the salad ingredients into a salad bowl. 
3. Just before serving pour the salad dressing over the salad and mix well using your hands.   

QUICK JAPANESE RECIPE: SMOKED SALMON AND TOFU SALAD WITH WASABI DRESSING

The wasabi in this salad dressing adds a nice kick and goes really well with smoked salmon. You should be able to find all the ingredients for this salad in the world food section of your local supermarket or your local health store.

Salad ingredients:
100g mixed salad leaves
100g smoked salmon (cut into bite size strips)
200g tofu (drained and cut into small cubes)
2 x peppery radish (thinly sliced)
Freshly chopped mint & basil (optional to garnish)

Japanese dressing ingredients:
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Half tsp sesame oil
1 tsp wasabi paste

Serves 2

Instructions:

1. Toss the salad leaves, smoked salmon and radish together in a salad bowl.

2. Gently add the tofu pieces.

3. Stir all the Japanese dressing ingredients in a small jug.

4. Pour the dressing over the salad just before eating.

5. Garnish with freshly chopped mint and basil if you have some.

Why not:

Add prawns instead of salmon.

Tips:

Make sure to stir the salad dressing ingredients just before pouring over the salad as the wasabi will sink to the bottom of the jug.