Wakame salad
The green seaweed salad known from sushi bars, here made at home from dried wakame, without the colourings and preservatives of the ready-made kind. Rehydrated wakame is silky and faintly crunchy, with a delicate taste of the sea. The dressing is rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger. Mind the quantity: dried wakame swells tenfold, so 20 grams makes four servings.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Soaking the wakame 10 min
- Dressing 5 min
- Marinating 20 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak the wakame in cold water
Cover the dried wakame with plenty of cold water for 10 minutes. It swells tenfold and turns from dark to vivid green. Do not soak longer — over-soaked it becomes slimy and soft.
Ingredients: 20 g dried wakame · 1000 ml water · ½ pcs carrot · 1 pcs spring onion
Ten minutes — ten times the volume and vivid green.Squeeze and cut into ribbons
Drain the wakame, squeeze it hard in your hands and cut into 1 cm ribbons. Cut out any tough midribs — they are fibrous. Squeezing thoroughly keeps the dressing from going watery.
Ingredients: 20 g dried wakame · 1000 ml water · ½ pcs carrot · 1 pcs spring onion
Squeeze hard — water thins the dressing.Blanch briefly for brighter colour
For a more intense colour dip the wakame in boiling water for 10 seconds, then straight into iced water, and squeeze again. Optional, but restaurants do it — the green turns emerald.
Ingredients: 20 g dried wakame · 1000 ml water · ½ pcs carrot · 1 pcs spring onion
Make the dressing
Stir the rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar until the sugar dissolves, then add the ginger, garlic and chilli. The dressing should be distinctly sweet and sour — wakame is delicate and needs a bold dressing.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp rice vinegar · 1½ tbsp soy sauce · 1½ tbsp toasted sesame oil · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp ginger · ½ clove garlic · 1 pinch chilli flakes · 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Sweet-sour and bold — wakame needs a strong dressing.Cut the carrot and spring onion
Cut the carrot into matchsticks as thin as the wakame, the spring onion diagonally into thin slices. Carrot brings orange colour and a crunch wakame lacks.
Ingredients: 20 g dried wakame · 1000 ml water · ½ pcs carrot · 1 pcs spring onion
Toss with the dressing
Toss the wakame and carrot with the dressing and half the sesame. Sesame dressed with the seaweed clings to it and adds nuttiness to every bite.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp rice vinegar · 1½ tbsp soy sauce · 1½ tbsp toasted sesame oil · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp ginger · ½ clove garlic · 1 pinch chilli flakes · 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Marinate 20 minutes in the fridge
Put the salad in the fridge for 20 minutes. The wakame absorbs the dressing and gains flavour. Do not keep it more than a few hours — the vinegar starts to soften it.
Ingredients: 20 g dried wakame · 1000 ml water · ½ pcs carrot · 1 pcs spring onion
Sprinkle with sesame and serve
Serve chilled, scattered with the rest of the sesame and the spring onion. Great as a starter before sushi, with a salmon rice bowl or beside miso soup.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp rice vinegar · 1½ tbsp soy sauce · 1½ tbsp toasted sesame oil · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp ginger · ½ clove garlic · 1 pinch chilli flakes · 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Before you start
The sushi-bar salad is different
The vivid green salad in sushi bars is usually a ready-made chuka wakame with colourings, agar and plenty of sugar. Homemade is darker and less sweet, but tastes of real seaweed.
With cucumber or tofu
Add thinly sliced cucumber or cubes of silken tofu to make it more filling. With prawns or surimi it becomes a light main course.
Do not overdo it
Wakame is rich in iodine. A portion from 5 g of dried seaweed is a sensible amount per person. People with thyroid conditions should eat seaweed in moderation.
