Sea Vegetables
Posted by Anonymous on Dec 07, 2006 · Member since Dec 1969 · 11789 posts
Hi, I'm new to VegWeb (my omni boyfriend actually found it and hooked up an RSS feed to his inbox so he could look for new meals for us and stay abreast of all things vegan; very sweet man) I'm quite interested in incorporating sea vegetables into my diet, but I don't even know what types there are, what they are called and what to do with them/how to cook them.
Can anyone please help enlighten me?
Hello, welcome to the community!
I'm a relative neophyte with sea vegetables, but I am very fond of dulse flakes (I just add them to soups and sometimes tofu for flavor), nori and sesame sprinkles on my rice, and hijiki in my soup. I like nori wrapped around sushi, too. And agar "gelatin" is the best-- if you get a chance to purchase agar-agar, either powdered or in stick form, get some, google it, and make yourself a delicious "gelatin" dessert-- or try those little lunchbox-able cups of agar jel that are available at Asian markets.
Here's a great guide to the different types; I'll let someone more knowledgeable guide you as to their preparation.
http://www.foodsubs.com/Seaveg.html
I bought a bag of Arame (a sea vegetable) a couple of months ago and posted a query here on what to do with it. I got some very helpful replies. Try searching for Arame on this board and see you can find it. Before I posted, I tried searching through the site for some recipes, and all I got were recipes for cARAMEl, which I thought was funny since caramel was pretty much at the opposite end of the food spectrum.
Duckalucky, I was totally impressed by the link :D
I have miso soup with Japanese stock (kombu and shiitake) every single day, and I eat the kombu but I never get sick of it.
I also love nori. When I don't feel like cooking anything for breakfast but have rice and miso soup in front of me (I know, it sounds sooo Japanese! ;D), I usually take 1-2 sheet(s) of nori, dip it in shoyu (Japanese style soy souce) or a mixture of sesami oil and salt, and eat with rice. My family do this all the time. It is so convenient and still better than some junk food.
Also, I like nori on toast. OK, toast your favorite bread. Spread flax oil, coconut oil, or margerine, on the toast. Dip cut nori in shoyu, and put it on the toast. I love it with flax oil. (I am a flax oil addict.)
Hijiki is full of iron. I cook with chick pea or soybean with shredded carrot, green onion, and deep fried tofu (=abura age, or age) with Japanese basic sauce (stock, salt, sugar, & soy sauce). My mother used to make this all the time because I had anemia.
Oh, if you used to enjoy jello, you probably want to try to make similar (but very different texture) "jello" with agar agar.
I always love wakame too. I use it for miso soup, salad, and I even saute it with ginger and green onion with shoyu and sesami oil. Wakame is awsome.
Two more... Do you know "mozuku" and "mekabu"? They are my #1 favorite seaweeds, but i can't locate them where I live. I especially fond of mekabu. They are very very slipperly. If you like okra, probably, you'll love it. I used to abuse these two seaweed when i was home in Japan. Anyway ;D, they are usually in a semi-hard plastic package with the sauce.
http://www.mozuku-1ban.jp/syouhinannai01.html
(this link is Japanese, but you can still browse the pics. Just to give you some idea how they look like)
For some reason, I can't locate mozuku and mekabu here (in East Lansing, Michigan). I am still suffering from the withdrawal ;D.
Hi,
Thanks Duckalucky, jkl and pinkorange for all the great information and recipe ideas. I'm going to have to hunt around to find some of the ingredients, but hopefully I'll find something I like.
It looks like my boyfriend will be subjected to some experimental food.
Thanks again, you've given me a great starting point to get cooking.
Brooke
Being of Welsh stock, I greatly enjoy laver bread, or "deep sea spinach" as they coyly tried to name it in the 60's...but I don't know if it's available outside Wales. A good munch, tho and full of good minerals.
"Deep sea spinach," hee hee. ::)
Pinkorange, you're a great example! I would love it if you could post some of your sea vegetable recipes (simple stir-fries, etc) on VegWeb-- I really would like to eat more of them than I do, but I generally only turn to them when I'm feeling especially adventurous-- having recipes to daydream over would make that adventure seem a little more approachable!
In Peru, there was a gorgeous seaweed that got incorporated into lots of recipes, notably including cebiche with small, lightly cooked donax (it's a bivalve, probably a kind of clam). It was called "mococho." It is all edible, with bulbous little needles protruding from a central stem (think rosemary, only bulbous and sea-weedy), and I wish I could find it in the U.S. It had a truly special crunch and a mild, sweetly briney flavor. I didn't eat enough of it there (our beaches, just offshore of which it was harvested, were badly contaminated by sewage bacteria and I was a wuss except when friends offered me mochocho dishes) but I miss it!