Seaweed is the general term given to a range of vegetables from the sea. Like many foods that are incredibly good for us, they lost popularity for being considered peasant food or just not handsome enough for our dinner table. Sea vegetables, however, are common in Asian cooking and are making a comeback, thanks to the genuine popularity of Japanese food. Sea vegetables are usually grown wild in the ocean. The ocean, however, is not the cleanest place in the world but with care and regular testing of pollutants and heavy metals, certified organic sea vegetables are possible. They do tend to be quite expensive, but a little goes a long way. At the moment, most organic sea vegetables come from America, look for the company ‘Maine Coast’.
As a rough guide, sea vegetables go well with rice, tofu, adzuki beans, pumpkin, miso, mushrooms (especially shiitake), eggplant, carrot, millet, mung beans and daikon/cucumber salad.
It should be noted that sea vegetables are an absolute abundance of nutrients, especially iodine (the mineral preferred for thyroid health). Finding a way to fit these into everyday cooking would benefit everyone. Try always cooking legumes and grains with some kombu (also helps with the digestion of legumes for those that are sensitive). A 10cm strip is enough to fix the cooking water with minerals and nutrients from the ocean to your dinner. Dry nori strips are easy to sprinkle atop meals.
Arame is sold chopped into string like strips because it is so tough in its natural form. It is similar to hijiki, also a ‘black’ looking seaweed which is sold chopped. Before being packaged, both arame and hijiki are cut, dried and then boiled, and then dried again.
Dulse has traditional backgrounds in Europe, especially Scottish and Irish cooking. It is considered a ‘strong’ flavoured sea vegetable, compared to others. Organic dulse can be bought either whole or as flakes, which are quite easy to sprinkle into different dishes.
Some old Scottish cook books praise dulse to the extent that it is eaten by itself, toasted or pan fried. It may have a strong flavour but it doesn’t seem to have the thickness that some sea vegetables have, this is why it is commonly sold as flakes.
Kombu is a member of the kelp family and is sometimes sold as kelp rather than kombu. Like kelp, kombu is sold as a thick strip, and therefore a little off putting for most people. But kombu and kelt are almost completely mineralised foods, and adding to soups, stews, legumes or grains will boost the nutrients of the food significantly.
Kombu needs to be soaked for at least 20 minutes, and if adding directly to food, you should wash off the excess salt, which appears as a fine white powder. It is recommended that you cook kombu for 1 – 2 hours to get it really soft if eating as a condiment. Before soaking, cut into strips.
Laver is the popular Scottish word for the sea vegetable that makes nori, the sheet like seaweed used to make nori rolls. When called laver, it is usually sold in its ‘sea vegetable’ form, rather than the sheets.
Laver should not be overlooked when selecting a sea vegetable, because the reason it makes such good flat sheets is because its fibres are tender when compared to other sea vegetables. This means that laver soaks up liquids very easily and so it is not so chewy to eat. Add to soups, stews or cut up yourself and add as a condiment to rice or other grain dishes.
