Seaweed Cucumber Salad

"Cool as a cucumber" takes on a new meaning with this great dish I "recently" found. As we're heading into warmer weather, I thought I'd make this cucumber salad. Cucumber salads are all more or less the same; though delicious, the formula can get a bit dull. This recipe from Sustainable Pantry, however has a decidedly Asian twist with the incorporation of sesame oil and seaweed. Don't let the seaweed turn you off; in addition to all the nutrients and health benefits seaweed provides, it has a wonderful flavor reminiscent of the ocean's bounty. This flavor, combined with the intoxicating aroma of sesame seed oil, makes for a multi-layered experience. The cucumbers bring their familiar cold crispness, contrasting the slightly chewy texture of the seaweed. Sesame seed oil, sweet cucumber, tart vinegar, and seaweed combine well for a distinct and enjoyable dish.

I used frozen hai dai (海帶) and dried wakame along with a little hijiki when I made this cucumber seaweed salad. Hai dai is a Chinese salted kelp, and the same one I used in Miso Soup and Bean Sprout Soup. (You can see what it looks like in those pictures.) It's the thicker kind you can usually find at the Asian grocery tied in knots or sliced. I'm not sure of the proper English name, but here's the Wikipedia link. Wakame is a Japanese seaweed often used in Miso Soup. For the Hai Dai, I just chopped it up, and for the wakame, I just crunched it up a bit more. I didn't rehydrate the wakame before using since I figured it'd be tastier if I let it hydrate in the cucumbers/rice vinegar/sesame oil instead of water. Plus, then you don't have to worry about draining the salad or having pools of liquid at the bottom since the seaweed will soak it up! Now, there's a multi-tasker. :)

What are your thoughts on seaweed?

Seaweed Cucumber Salad

by CJ Huang

Crisp cucumber, smooth sesame oil, tangy vinegar, and tantalizing seaweed makes for an unforgettable summer dish.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: none
Total time: 5 minutes + cooling/marinating time
Yield: 2 servings

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
			1	cucumber, sliced and quartered
		1 teaspoon		sesame oil
		1 tablespoon		rice vinegar
				seaweed	to taste

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Combine all materials and shake together.

Shared with: Full Plate Thursday, BFF Open House, Artsy Fartsy Party, Traffic Jam, Handmade and Otherwise, Meal Plan Monday, Saturday Sparks, What's for Dinner?, Over the Moon, Hearth and Soul, Tuesdays at Our Home, Inspire Me Monday, Your Whims Wednesday, Wine'd Down Wednesday, Party in Your PJs, Homestead Blog Hop

Sesame Asparagus with Carrots

I recently purchased some asparagus while it was on sale. However, I wanted to try something new, so I started looking around at what I had on hand. This time, I didn't have a whole lot of produce to pick from, so I kept it simple with just carrots and items from the pantry stash - sesame oil and furikake. Don't skip out on the furikake! It really makes the dish, adding a sweet and savory flavor that's full of delicious. In fact, you might even want to add more furikake. I know I did! You should be able to find furikake in the Asian section of your grocery store for a few dollars or on Amazon. I just used the basic stuff here, but there's all sorts of flavors available. Experiment around to find your favorite. :)

What's your favorite way to enjoy asparagus?

Sesame Asparagus with Carrots

by CJ Huang

Asparagus with an Asian flair. Cook up your asparagus with some carrots in sesame oil and toss with the wonderfulness of furikake!

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
287 grams	10.125 ounces		2	carrots, sliced
442 grams	15.625 ounces		1 bunch	asparagus, woody parts removed
15 grams	1/2 ounce	1 tablespoon		sesame oil
7 grams	1/4 ounce			furikake	Feel free to use more!

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Cook carrots in a bit of sesame oil. After carrots are mostly cooked, add asparagus and remove carrots. Serve with a generous sprinkle of furikake.

Garlic Salmon Rice Balls (Onigiri お握り)

Rice, formed into balls and covered with a seaweed and toasted sesame mixture for a fun way to eat on the go.

Bean Sprout Soup

We recently bought some bean sprouts as a topping for pad thai, but we later realized we got too much and now needed to find another use quickly since bean sprouts tend to not keep for long. Throw in all the cold and rainy weather lately, and I started thinking about soups. Not too many foods can warm you up as quickly or easily as a soup. Although I did an overnight soak due to the kind of seaweed I used, you could shorten that part by simply boiling the seaweed or using something else. However, I would recommend using the same kind or something similar because it does add a certain flavor to the soup. This type of seaweed is commonly found at Asian groceries in bins or containers of brine or frozen. I personally prefer the packaged frozen kind, but there's nothing wrong with the other variety. I also added in some white miso for additional flavor and its health benefits. I figured it might be a good idea with the bug going around lately. Anyway, give this soup a try and let me know what you think!

Bean Sprout Soup

by CJ Huang

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				tomato, wedges
				bean sprouts
				seaweed
				water
				miso

Methods:

1. Soak seaweed overnight (or follow package directions) and discard water.
2. Combine water (reserve ~1 cup), seaweed, and tomato in pot and bring to a boil. The bean sprouts can be added at any time, even after the heat is turned off, depending on how soft you like them.
3. Mix remaining water with miso until homogeneous.
4. Add miso to soup just before serving since boiling the miso will kill off the beneficial bacteria.

Duk Guk

Duk guk is a Korean dish traditionally eaten during the New Year celebrations. It is similar to the Chinese nian gao (年糕). Duk guk consists of a thick soup with thinly sliced rice cakes. The tradition is that eating duk guk will bring luck and allow the eater to gain a year. This dish is commonly garnished with julienned eggs, marinated beef strips, and kim, but I used ground beef and black beans instead of the more traditional beef strips. Since I used ground beef and black beans, the duk guk I made was darker, but no less tasty. I also added some chili pepper flakes to the eggs, which I cooked in sesame oil for extra flavor. According to tradition, this dish is eaten during the new year since the white duk signifies purity and cleanliness, and eating it is a ritual to start off the new year with good fortune. Thus, if you're eating this dish as part of a new year celebration, you might want to use beef strips instead of ground beef and black beans. However, duk guk is good enough to eat any time of the year! Aside from the ground beef and black beans, this duk guk is fairly standard and prepared by boiling the duk (or rice cakes) and garnishing with julienned pan fried egg, kim, and green onions.

Duk Guk

by CJ Huang

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				rice cakes	You might need to go to an Asian store to find these. Another alternative might be to use thick noodles.
				water/stock
				fish sauce
			2	eggs
				green onions, sliced
				kim
				chili pepper flakes	optional
				oil	I used sesame.
				beef	I used ground beef and black beans, but beef strips is more traditional.

Methods:

1. Boil rice cakes in water/stock until cooked and desired consistency reached.
2. Add a small amount of fish sauce and mix in (optional).
3. Pan fry egg (using sesame oil and adding some chili pepper flakes if desired) and cut into thin strips.
4. Scoop rice cakes out with desired amount of "soup" and garnish with egg, green onions, and kim.

Pond Scum Soup, Version 3.0

I'd previously made pond scum soup and pond scum soup v2.0, but I thought I'd make some updates and create pond scum soup v3.0. I wanted to add a bit more flavor this time, so I added some of the small dried anchovies I had. The anchovies I used were the small (about 1 inch long) kind that are pretty common in Asian grocery stores, not the larger ones packed into a can. Although, as flexible as pond scum soup is, you could probably use those as well!

What's your favorite kind of soup?

Pond Scum Soup v3.0

by CJ Huang

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				seaweed	I used kim.
				green onions
				sesame seeds, toasted
				anchovies	optional
				water or stock
				ginger, grated
				miso

Methods:

1. Bring seaweed, anchovies, ginger, and water or stock to a boil.
2. Turn off heat, and stir in miso. You don't want to add the miso when the soup is too hot because it will kill off the healthy bacteria in the miso. (It's the same bacteria that's in yogurt.)
3. Sprinkle green onions and sesame seeds on top as a garnish.

Miso Soup

A nice light soup, good for those times when you've eaten a little too much, or just in general. :) This is a very simple miso soup, consisting of just miso, water/stock, and seaweed, garnished with green onions. Miso is a thick paste, and when made into a soup, a Japanese staple. It's also got a bit of protein and is rich with vitamins and minerals. There's also a variety of misos available. I used akamiso, or red miso.

What's your favorite simple soup?

Miso Soup

by CJ Huang

A simple miso soup - just miso and seaweed with a green onion garnish.

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				miso
				stock or water
				seaweed	I used sliced, salted seaweed. The thicker kind that you can find at the Asian grocery tied in knots or sliced. Not sure what the name of the seaweed is.
				green onions, sliced

Methods:

1. Prepare seaweed according to package directions (or soak in water for at least a few hours - overnight is preferred if you got it from a big bin).
2. Cut seaweed into small pieces (optional, but I didn't want to have long seaweed strands. Another option to avoid cutting is to get the knots).
3. Boil water or stock with seaweed.
4. Mix miso into a small amount of water, and add it to the soup. You don't want to boil the miso since that will kill off the beneficial bacteria.
5. Serve and garnish with green onions.

Teriyaki Salmon Miso Noodle Soup

After making the quick and easy teriyaki salmon, I was thinking about how to make it into a better, more well rounded meal. I thought about maybe doing something similar to the duck noodle soup I had made a while back, but with the teriyaki salmon. I have also been trying various miso soups, including pond scum soup v 2.0. I incorporated various aspects of each of those, and the result was something better than each of the parts! And so, without further ado...

What's your favorite noodle soup?

Teriyaki Salmon Miso Noodle Soup

by CJ Huang

Flavorful teriyaki salmon in a noodle soup with miso, shiitake mushrooms and spinach, garnished with seaweed.

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				teriyaki salmon
				shiitake mushrooms, sliced
				green onions, sliced
				noodles
				kim
				water or stock
				miso
				spinach	optional

Methods:

1. Boil the shiitake mushrooms in stock or water.
2. Cook the noodles.
3. Mix the miso into some of the slightly cooled stock or water.
4. Divide the noodles into bowls, and pour the broth over them. If using spinach, add it to the stock or water just before pouring over the noodles or to the noodles just before pouring the water or stock over them.
5. Pour the miso into each bowl.
6. Garnish with kim and green onions.

Pond Scum Soup, Version 2

Previously, I made some pond scum soup, and I thought I'd try another version of that. Or rather, I made a tasty soup, but couldn't get a decent picture of it. And without further ado...

What's your favorite non-photogenic food?

Pond Scum Soup, Version 2

by CJ Huang

A new version of Pond Scum Soup.

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				stock or water
				sesame seeds
				green onions
				greens	I used turnip greens. Spinach or just about any other greens would also work well.
				seaweed	I used kim, but nori or other seaweeds would also work well.
				miso

Methods:

1. Bring stock or water to a boil.
2. Add in greens and seaweed.
3. Turn off heat, and stir in miso. You don't want to add miso when the soup is too hot since it will kill off the bacteria in the miso. (It's the same bacteria that's in yogurt.)
4. Sprinkle sesame seeds and green onions on top.

Pond Scum Soup

Recipe inspired by James’ taste buds. We usually take turns deciding what kind of soup to have with dinner, and James chose this one. I have no idea what the “real” name for this soup is, but I had a hard time getting a picture of this that didn’t look like pond scum, so I’m calling it pond scum soup.

Anyone know the actual name for this soup?

Pond Scum Soup

by CJ Huang

A deceptively delicious soup made with seaweed and egg, and then flavored with green onions and soy sauce.

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				water or stock
				seaweed	I used kim, a type of Korean seaweed with sesame oil on it. Nori or zicai would also work well.
			1	egg, beaten
				green onions
				soy sauce

Methods:

1. Bring water or stock to a boil.
2. Once water is boiling, turn off heat and slowly pour egg into water while stirring.
3. Add seaweed and allow it to rehydrate.
4. Add green onions and soy sauce to soup just before serving.