Japanese Sea Vegetable Salad Recipe

photo by Newtown grafitti

(This is one really nice and healthy raw vegan recipe)

You will be absolutely in love with sea vegetables and this salad is simple yet busy enough for those who are still a bit timid of seaweed. Use what’s in season and what you’ve got in your fridge. There are of course, some key staples that make the salad what it is – an addictive nutritious powerhouse! The most important ingredients are marked with an asterisk *.

I had a lot of great things to use today in this salad:

• Wakame*
• Dulse* (not the flakes!)
• Napa cabbage, or other crunchy lettuce*
• Eden pickled daikon*
• Cucumber
• Cherry tomatoes, halved
• Freshly sliced shitakes, and hon shimegi mushrooms
• Alfalfa sprouts
• Red radish
• Yellow bell pepper
• Scallion, chopped
• Hemp seeds*
• Ginger knob*
• Eden garlic gomasio*
• Nama shoyu**
• Eden ume plum vinegar*
• Eden shake, or sesame seeds, or hemp seeds*
• Flax seed oil, preferably Barlean’s because of its rich but clean, buttery flavor

*Omit nama shoyu for gluten-free version of the recipe.

Please note that we didn’t use measurements in this recipe, because the serving size and how much you love each one of item is up to you. For example, you may really love cucumbers and make them a more dominant feature, but not so much for the bell pepper. We also believe that when it comes to awesome raw cuisine, a lot of freedom is created by the personal taste and not necessarily by the measurement.

So, here we go!

Step one: Prepare the wakame

As you see, you can use instant wakame which isn’t technically raw. But for ease of this demonstration, you can opt for instant. Raw wakame needs to soak for 8 to 12 hours depending on desired texture. This instant stuff takes 10 minutes, and it still does your body good. Just throw a small handful into a bowl and cover with about 5X the water. It really multiplies in size so keep your eye on it.

Step two: Prepare the mushrooms

Take some shitakes and these gorgeous hon shimegis! Slice ‘em up and put ‘em in a bowl, sprinkle them with nama shoyu but don’t drown them! You just want to wake them up a bit. The Japanese varieties of mushrooms are especially good for you. Or we should say, outstanding! They have long been hailed for their medicinal properties. Let them sit while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Step three: Prepare and chop the pickled daikon

daikon

It might be totally weird looking, and some folks may not like it but it’s actually delicious. It is, in fact, a Japanese pickle, if you’ve ever had any at a Japanese restaurant. They’re very crunchy and salty! These are very big in the macrobiotic diet . These pickled daikon are an excellent digestive aid and blood and liver cleanser. After rinsing off the brine, just cut into desired sized pieces!

Step four: Cut up the rest of your veggies and get them all ready to go…

Step five: Chop the napa cabbage into slaw-like shreds and toss into a large bowl…

Step six: Squeeze out the wakame and add to the bowl…

Using your hands does the trick best  and some may find this to be quite fun. Scoop out the wakame in batches and squeeze till no more water drains out.

Step seven: Add all of the rest of your chopped veggies, plus the marinated mushrooms to the bowl…

Step eight: Add the dulse…

It is much preferable that whole dulse, rather than flakes, be used because you get the full flavor and texture effect. Whole dulse is incredibly chewy and salty, so you don’t want the pieces too big. We recommend cutting a hunk with scissors into shreds similar to your napa cabbage, maybe even smaller. It adds such an interesting texture and flavor to this salad and it’s oh so nutritious!

Step nine: Grate the ginger right into the bowl…

Grate it up to your liking, but keep in mind that it is difficult to grate too much because it meshes so well with the rest of the flavors.

Step ten: Pour in some hemp seeds!

image by wuestenigel

I love hemp seeds, even though they’re so neutral. They add that subtle something.

Step eleven: Let’s review the condiments!

Here we have both optional and integral finishes. This salad wouldn’t be complete without the flax seed oil, nama shoyu, and ume vinegar. The garlic domasio is a mild but flavorful addition, especially if you like garlic! It’s a blend of sesame seeds, garlic, and sea salt. But if you don’t have this or prefer to pass it over, that is fine. Eden Shake is fun because it’s a combo of sesame seeds, seaweed, and other seasonings. The salad is best finished with some type of seed.

Step twelve: Dress and toss!

Now this is important! Since there’s so much going on in this salad you want it to wear just the right dressing, right. Use a zig-zag motion over the bowl when adding the liquids so that you don’t add too much in one place. First, sprinkle in a little ume vinegar. If you’ve never used this before be careful! It is tart and salty, so experiment to your liking. Next, sprinkle in just a little nama shoyu. Again, you won’t need much because of the other salty elements already in play. Now take the flax seed oil and squirt in a nice amount. Toss the salad once to combine all the ingredients. Finally, repeat the dressing steps, only this time add maybe half as much. This is also when you would adjust any of the dressing ingredients.

Step thirteen: Voila!

Now you have a luscious, nutritious sea vegetable salad! Even if you don’t think you like sea vegetables, there are enough flavors and textures and prettiness going on here to satisfy any palette.

Enjoy!