Seaweed salad is a healthy and tasty dish made of wilted seaweed, rice vinegar, herbs, and spices. It is popular in Europe and North America and can include mushrooms, sesame seeds, and rice. The salad is traditionally Asian and can be flavored with ginger, red pepper flakes, coriander, and garlic.
Seaweed salad is a salad made up of strips of wilted seaweed, rice vinegar, herbs and spices. Traditionally an Asian dish, it has gained popularity in Europe and North America as a very healthy and tasty side dish or snack. Many types of seaweed are full of vitamins, minerals and nutrients. It also reportedly contains enzymes that improve hair and skin health, as well as give the immune system a boost.
There are a few different versions of seaweed salad, but most of them have a predominantly spicy, pickled flavor that is often attributed to rice vinegar. This is a very mild tasting vinegar that is light in color. It generally gives seaweed salad its signature sheen. The seaweed strands in these salads almost always look like coiled strands of green spaghetti. Soy sauce can replace rice vinegar in a pinch, but is usually added in small amounts so the consumer can still taste the seaweed itself.
Mushrooms, black and white sesame seeds, red pepper flakes and rice can all appear in seaweed salad. The most popular are black and white sesame seeds. Some recipes contain both colors and some call for only one. Both types of seeds lend a crunchy texture and a strong, nutty flavor to the salad that often balances out the flavor of the vinegar. The mushrooms also cut through this acidity and give the seaweed salad a rich, meaty undertone. Portobellos, shitake and wild truffles are all tasty additions to this dish.
When rice is included in seaweed salad, it is often set aside or acts as a stage for the salad itself. Sticky white rice is most often seen, but jasmine, brown, wild, and basmati can also be used. Pork fried rice can also be served with this salad, but some feel that the strong flavors of the pork and seaweed don’t mix well. Typically, very mild, plain rice works best.
Those making seaweed salad at home should first cut the nak or wakame seaweed sheets into thin strips with kitchen scissors. Soaking the strips in warm water for about 15 minutes softens them and makes them pliable. The strips should then be drained and placed in a bowl with three or four healthy squirts of rice vinegar and a drizzle of soy sauce. The seaweed should rest in this mixture for 20-30 minutes.
Many cooks like to flavor their seaweed salad with ginger, red pepper flakes, coriander and garlic. Some even like to add a dusting of sugar to tame the acidity of the dish. This salad works on its own, but can also be eaten with chicken, fish, udon noodles, or many styles of sushi.
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