← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 20 g Dried hijiki seaweed
• 1 sheet Aburaage (thin fried tofu sheets)
• ½ Carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
• 1 tbsp neutral or sesame oil
• 200 ml water (or kombu dashi)
• 1 tbsp Sake
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp Mirin
• 2 tbsp Soy sauce
• 8 Green beans, blanched and sliced (optional)

Method

1. Soak the hijiki in plenty of water for 30 min; it swells to many times its size. Rinse well in a sieve, discard the soaking water and drain.
2. Pour boiling water over the fried tofu to remove excess oil, squeeze it gently and cut into thin strips.
3. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Stir-fry the carrot and hijiki for 2 min, then add the tofu.
4. Add the water, sake, sugar, mirin and soy and bring to the boil. Simmer partly covered over medium-low heat for 10–12 min, stirring now and then, until the liquid is nearly gone.
5. Stir through the green beans, then cool. The flavour deepens overnight, and it keeps 4 days in the fridge.

Tips

• Hijiki can contain inorganic arsenic; soaking it and throwing the water away reduces it, so enjoy it as an occasional side rather than every day.
• Contains soy and wheat (soy sauce).

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook RecipeTin Japan Japanese Cooking 101