The Importance of (sea)Weeds: Wakame
Frankly, I don’t know much about seaweed except for these two kinds - Japanese nori and the chinese black seaweed for soups. When I was studying in NZ, i saw plenty of seaweed floating on the sea bed but they didn’t look that appetizing up close though as they felt as rough as cow hide.
But anyway, seaweed is an integral part of the Japanese cuisine. You see it wrapped around sushis, you see them in soups, stocks and salads. So today, we’ll talk about the types of seaweed used in Japanese cuisine. I can only find the most common three: Wakame, Kombu and of course, Nori. Seaweed are not only delicious (I love seaweed) but they are also healthy too as some research as pointed out, which I will point out as we go on in this post.
Wakame is a type of edible kelp. Kelps are large seaweeds, probably the same as the ones I saw in NZ. In Japan, wakame is distributed either dried or salted, and often used in soup, particularly miso soup, and salads. In China, it is called qundaicai. Chinese production is concentrated around Dalian. In Korea, it is called miyeok and used in salads or soup.
In Japan, Wakame is often found in Tofu salad, usually a simple side dish and consisting of Tofu, wakame and sometimes with a salad vegetable like cucumber. They are typically dressed with Japanese ingredients including soya sauce and vinegar/rice vinegar.
Now, Wakame might be food to the Japanese but to the Kiwis in NZ, these seaweed is some serious weed! It’s nominated as one of the 100 worst invasive species in the world. It was first discovered in Wellington Harbour in 1987. It probably arrived accidentally in the late 1980s, via shipping from Asia, in ballast water. Native to cold temperate coastal areas of Japan, Korea and China, in recent decades it has also established in France, Britain, Spain, Italy, Argentina and Australia.
Wakame is now found around much of south-eastern New Zealand, and as far north as Auckland. It spreads in two ways: naturally, through the millions of microscopic spores released by each fertile organism, and through attachment to vessel hulls and marine farming equipment. It is a highly successful and fertile species, which makes it a serious invader. However, its impacts are not well understood and are likely to vary, depending on the location.
Wakame is a rich source of EPA, an ω-3 essential fatty acid. At over 400 mg/100 cal, it has one of the higher nutrient:calorie ratios, and among the very highest for a vegetarian source.
Since Wakame is usually used in miso soup, it’s not very becoming if i don’t provide the recipe for it. It’s a very simple and hearty soup (and healthy too).
All you need is:
2 tablespoon of miso paste (but a tub, it’ll lasts your for a long, long time)
3 cups of water
wakame seaweed, hydrated (eyeball how much you want)
fresh soft tofu, cut into bite size cubes
Optional: Chopped Spring onions to serve.
Method:
Bring water to a boil and dilute your miso paste. Let it simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.
On a bowl you want your miso soup in, add your tofu (be gentle with them) and your seaweed. Scoop the simmering soup and pour it into the ingredients in the bowl.
Voila. Miso soup!
To be continued: I will continue with the other two seaweeds in the next posts! :)
Source: Wikipedia
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