Hijiki No Nimono

Ingredients

• Seaweed

  Agar, dried

  12g

• Tofu

  Fried

  100g

• Sesame oil

  Salad or cooking

  2 tbsp or 27g

• Carrots

  Raw

  1 medium or 61g

• Celery

  Raw

  100g

• Garlic

  Raw

  1 cloves, minced or 3g

• Peas

  Edible-podded, frozen, unprepared

  30g

• Soy sauce

  Regular sodium, Shoyu

  3 tbsp or 48g

• Kotterin Mirin

  Kikkoman

  3 tablespoon or 300g

• Balsamic vinegar

  2 tbsp or 32g

• Salt

  Table

  1 dash or 0.4g

Directions

1. Soak the hijiki in cold water for 15 minutes to reconstitute, then drain. Rinse the aburaage in just-boiled water, then wipe dry with a paper towel to remove excess oil on the surface. Slice the aburaage into strips. Set aside. Boil the konnyaku in a pan of salted water for 3 minutes to remove any smell, then cut it into 3-cm/1¼-inch length skinny sticks. Heat a frying pan/skillet over a high heat, and add the sesame oil. Fry the hijiki seaweed, aburaage, konnyaku, carrot, celery and garlic for 3–4 minutes, stirring. Add the garden peas to the pan. Combine the soy sauce, mirin and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl, then pour over the hijiki mixture in the pan. Turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 3 minutes until the seasonings have evaporated. Remove to a serving bowl and leave the salad to cool to room temperature before serving. Garnish the salad with toasted sesame seeds or some toasted crushed almonds, toasted coriander seeds or pink peppercorns for different plays on flavours and textures. Try anything you have in your store cupboard! Leftovers will keep for a few days in the fridge, and go perfectly well in a bento box for lunch! Ikeda, Atsuko. Atsuko's Japanese Kitchen (p. 236). Ryland Peters & Small. Kindle Edition.