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Recently, people have been asking me if seaweeds from the Maine coast can be made into seaweed salads like they buy in Japanese restaurants or prepackaged in little bags in the marketplace. The answer is, "Yes, and they can taste even better and be made with more healthful ingredients." Some of the seaweeds from Japan are blanched in hot water to tenderize them before they are sold. There is a loss of minerals during this process. Some of the sweeteners used in the marinades are just plain sugar. So why not improve on the Japanese seaweed salad? Here are my suggestions for an experiment. I'm not going to tell you how much to use of anything. I'm simply going to suggest some principles and some ingredients. The other night I made a flavorful seaweed salad with top quality ingredients. Here's what I did: I used alaria because I like its flavor, and it's high in calcium. I cut it finely with a scissors before reconstituting it in water. One could reconstitute it first, then chop it finely with a scissors or a knife. It's a matter of personal preference. I didn't want to throw out the soak water because that water contains a lot of nutrients, so I more or less sprinkled the seaweed with water, and kept turning it over. Think of it as making a pancake batter, and you want enough water to wet the flour, but not so much that it's runny. I also squeezed lemon juice into the soak water, because lemon will help release minerals from the seaweed. While the alaria was reconstituting, I made a marinade. I grated ginger and squeezed the juice out of the pulp. Sometimes I will cut ginger in small chunks and extract the juice with my juicer. Either way works. I squeezed orange juice for a fragrant sweetener. One could also use raw unpasteurized honey and stir that into the marinade. I used toasted sesame oil. I added a dash of tamari. One could also add a dash of brown rice vinegar. So there you have it: alaria, lemon, ginger juice, orange juice and/or raw honey, toasted sesame oil, and a dash of tamari and/or brown rice vinegar. Mix it all together to suit your taste. The longer it soaks, the more tender it becomes. I can imagine using this seaweed salad with chopped apples, and I can also imagine adding it to a dark green salad that included romaine or baby greens, cucumber and parsley. Grated carrots would be another good addition. When I cook carrots with alaria, I sometimes add one clove. Hmmm.... I wonder what would happen if I added a clove or two to a marinade that included small chunks of oranges or clementines? Yum! Well, let's keep experimenting, and stay in touch. Rest in the Light, abide in the Heart. |