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: 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.

BASIC JAPANESE COOKING INGREDIENTS PART II

This post is a continuation of my first post on Basic Japanese Ingredients and gives a brief description of an extended list of basic ingredients used in Japanese home cooking. All these ingredients can be found in either Asian markets or large supermarkets. From my experience Asian supermarkets tend to be cheaper compared to supermarkets.

NORI - ROASTED SEAWEED

These roasted seaweed sheets are well known for wrapping sushi rolls. They can be shredded and sprinkled over dishes before serving. This type of seaweed is relatively easy to find and not expensive.

WAKAME - TYPE OF SEAWEED

Wakame is often added to Japanese miso soup and Japanese style salads. Be careful how much wakame you add to a dish as these tiny dry pieces of seaweed expand once they are added to water. 



HIJIKI - TYPE OF SEAWEED

Hijiki goes well with vegetables in a Japanese style stir-fry. It's important to soak the dried seaweed in water before adding to any dishes.

KOMBU - TYPE OF SEAWEED

This seaweed is used along with bonito fish flakes to make Japanese homemade fish stock called dashi.

KATSUOBUSHI - BONITO FISH FLAKES

Katsuobushi is used along with kombu seaweed to make Japanese homemade fish stock. It goes well with fresh tofu and soy sauce. Depending on where you live it can be difficult to get and a little expensive. I get it in my local Asian supermarket.

TOFU - PREFERABLY GM FREE

Tofu is made from fermented soya beans. It's low in calaroies yet high in protein and calcium. Try to buy tofu in an Asian store as the quality and the taste of the tofu tend to be much better. Fresh tofu can be eaten cold straight from the fridge or added to hot dishes. 

PANKO - JAPANESE BREAD CRUMBS

The biggest difference between panko and standard breadcrumbs is that panko doesn't contain the crust of the bread and the breadcrumbs are bigger in panko. Seemingly panko absorbs less oil than standard breadcrumbs! Panko is used for dishes such as Japanese style croquettes and tonkatsu.

ROASTED SESAME SEEDS

These are often sprinkled over dishes before serving.

NANAMI TOGARASHI - JAPANESE SEVEN SPICES

This spice mix includes chilli, orange peel, black sesame seed, white sesame seed, seaweed, Japanese pepper and ginger. It's often added to Japanese dishes to add a little kick and extra taste to the dish. 

 

SESAME OIL
Used to flavour Japanese Chinese style dishes such as fried rice

SHISO LEAF

A type of herb that is used in Japanese cooking. It can be difficult to find in supermarkets outside of Japan however if you can get shiso leaf seeds then you can grow your own!

WASABI - JAPANESE HORSERADISH

This is the green coloured mustard that is served with sushi. The wasabi root looks like a ginger root and can be hard to find. 

UDON NOODLES

A type of thick wheat flour noodle. Udon is usually served in a clear lightly seasoned soup with other ingredients.

 

RAMEN NOODLES

This is a wheat noodle used for Japanese Chinese style dishes including "Ramen" which is a tasty and very popular noodle soup. 

SOBA NOODLES

This is a thin brown buckwheat noodle which tends to be eaten cold during the summer months and hot during the colder times of year. 

Hiyayakko- chilled tofu with grated ginger and soya sauce

Hiyayakko is chilled tofu with different toppings and a drizzle of soya sauce. The most popular toppings among Japanese people are grated ginger, spring onion, katsuobushi (bonito flakes), shiso and daikon radish.

Hiyayakko should take only 5 minutes or less to prepare! You can have it as an appetiser, side dish or main dish. It's nice and refreshing to eat on a warm summer's day.

Ingredients:

1 pack of cold silken tofu (preferably GM free tofu)

Thumb size piece of fresh ginger grated
Handful of finely chopped spring onion (optional)
Handful of bonito flakes/katsuobushi (optional)

3 tsp soya sauce

Instructions:

1. Gently drain the water from the block of tofu and place on a serving plate. 
2. Place the grated ginger (bonito flakes and spring onion) on top of the tofu.
3. Drizzle soya sauce over the tofu and toppings just before serving.

How to eat:
You can serve this dish Japanese style as one block of tofu and let everyone help themselves or you can cut the tofu into smaller blocks and put a little topping on each small block of tofu. Then, serve on individuals plates.

Tips:

1. Be careful not to pour too much soya sauce over the tofu or it will overtake the delicious taste of the tofu.
2. Make sure to serve the tofu chilled.