Coming to America has really expanded my palate. It has given me an opportunity to try foods from all over the world. Korean food is among one of my top 5 favorite cuisines. It amazes me how they manage to pack so much flavor into their dishes with simple ingredients and very little cooking. When you go to a Korean restaurant they serve you a variety of side dishes called “banchan”. One of my favorite banchan is the seaweed salad. It is healthy, refreshing and packed with flavor. Here is my attempt to replicate this dish.
What you will need:
| Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Dried Seaweed | 1 ounce |
| Ginger | 2 ounces |
| Rice Wine Vinegar | 3 tablespoons |
| Sesame Oil | 1 tablespoon |
| Sesame Seeds | 2 1/2 tablespoons |
| Soya Sauce | 2 tablespoons |
| Sugar | 3 tablespoons |
| Water | 2.5 ounces |
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Servings: 4
How to make it:
- Boil around two cups of water. Pour the water over the seaweed so that it can rehydrate. I used wakame seaweed, but you can use any seaweed of your choice. Once the seaweed is rehydrated, drain any access water.
Wakame Seaweed - Make a paste with the ginger and water in a mixer. Strain the juice and discard the pulp. Use the juice for making the dressing.
- To prepare the dressing, add sugar, ginger juice, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil (I used spiced sesame oil but you can use the regular one) in a mixing bowl. Whisk all the ingredients well together.
- In a salad bowl, add the seaweed along with the dressing and sesame seeds. Mix well.
- Keep in the refrigerator to chill for around 30 minutes before serving.