Seaweed Salad

Honestly, I’ve never made seaweed salad or cooked with fresh seaweed before, but I love eating them which usually, of course, wrap around sushi in dried form of seaweed, crispy toasted seaweed snacks, seaweed salad, and in Miso soup at Japanese or Korean restaurants. I’ve always thinking about making seaweed salad at home but never had a chance to do it. So, I brought home a package of fresh seaweed from the Asian Supermarket that happened to have only one package left that day and was thinking about dishes that I could possibly make with it. I said dishes because there were 12 ounces in the package and seemed to be awful lot just to make a salad. So, I used half of the package and left the other half for my next dish.

The fresh seaweed I got from the market didn’t label the type of seaweed, but I believed they were Kelp. These dark green leafy plant came in a very long strips and still had the “salty-sea smell” with some slimy on them.   I wondered if they needed to be cooked before consuming.    So…I did some research. Some said that seaweed can be eaten raw and some said that fresh seaweed are needed to be cooked in boiling water for at least 3 minutes limit and no more to preserve its nutrition.   Therefore, some types of seaweed are dehydrated and dried and needed to be soaked in water for at least 5-10 minutes to make it pliable before prepare into salad or soup.

 

My research has led me to a little bit of confusion; however, what did I do with them?     “Let’s meet in the middle,” I thought.    So I washed off the slimy really well before I soaked them in the hot water for 15 minutes, and then rinsed them again with cold water and let them dripping out excess water in the colander until they were ready to use. 

The dressing for my seaweed salad was very easy to make which you could adjust the taste for your own liking, chili or no chili you decide, and add some of your favorite veggies. The completed salad is needed to be marinated overnight before eating, the longer it’s marinated, the softer the seaweed and yet taste a lot better!

So! What are benefits of eating seaweed, if you asked? There are plenty of good stuffs, especially to those who really need to shred some pounds and live healthier. Well, I don’t know about you, but I chose to live a healthy live.    You know?  Healthy life won’t bite! 

 You can find out more of seaweed benefits here

What you need:

6 oz fresh seaweed strips (kelp)
1/4 cup carrots finely julienned
1/4 cup finely sliced celery
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tbsp Rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp Asian chili garlic sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds 1 tbsp finely chopped spring onion

   

How to:
- Soak fresh seaweed in hot water for 15 minutes and rinse thoroughly with cold water and set aside. If you think the seaweed strips are too long, you can cut into your desired size. I didn’t cut mine.
- Making the dressing by whisking together soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, sugar, and chili garlic sauce until sugar dissolve.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine seaweed, carrot, celery and toss in the dressing, sesame seeds and chopped spring onion and mix well.
- marinade it overnight before serving.

Enjoy!

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