Goma-ae

I'm a huge sushi fan - count yourself lucky enough if you live in a city where you can get good quality vegetarian sushi and not just avocado rolls all the time (not knocking avocado rolls, it's just nice to have some variety). I'm particularly fond of that little Japanese salad, spinach goma-ae. As I got more adept at making my own sushi, I decided to try my hand at this delicious dish and my results were pretty satisfying. A lot of places use peanut butter as well, so you can always try to replace the tahini with pb if that's more your thing. This is a great recipe for getting your daily calcium intake - a cup of boiled spinach provides you with 25% of your daily value, and a quarter cup of tahini has about 35% - or so WHFoods tells me!

Spinach Goma-ae

1 bunch spinach (or a bag of pre-washed spinach leaves)
1/4 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp raw sugar or agave nectar
1/8 cup sushi vinegar
1 tsp sesame seeds

Wash your spinach well. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Take the water off the heat and immerse the spinach in the water. Let sit, covered, for 2 - 3 minutes. Drain it and squeeze as much moisture as you can out of it, forming little balls (the spinach should have some give but not be falling apart). Set the balls aside and let them cool. Mix the tahini, soy sauce, sugar and sushi vinegar together until they are well-blended. If you want it creamier add more tahini, saltier add more soy sauce, sweeter add more sugar, tangier add more vinegar - it's pretty simple and all goma-ae sauces are different, it's down to your personal preference (I like it a little sweet myself). Once you have perfected your sesame dressing (it should be reasonably thick), pour it over the spinach balls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Let cool or refrigerate before eating. It may not seem like you get much for how much you put in, but the balls are very dense and packed with nutrition!

Breaded Tofu

Doesn't sound too healthy does it? Well, it probably isn't, it's very oily but it's SO GOOD. It resembles tempura, I suppose. If you are craving fried food (we all do sometimes let's face it), it's miles better than, oh, chicken-fried bacon or whatever is popular these days. And it's very simple to make. I got the idea from the battered/crumbed fish my mom used to make when I was little.

Breaded Tofu

1/4 cup flour (I use tapioca flour, it's gluten-free)
Block of tofu
2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I use rice bread crumbs, gluten-free and a bit lighter)
Sauce of choice (Sweet chili is my fave with this, but teriyaki would be good, too!)

Mix the flour, crumbs, salt and sesame seeds well and put the mixture it in a small bowl or plate. Slice block of tofu into 1-inch thick slabs (or approximately that, it's up to you how you like it). Dip/coat tofu in oil, then dip/coat it in the flour mixture (the oil helps keep the coating on). Fry up your slabs in oil on medium-high heat (it should sizzle but not pop), turning when necessary (it is ready before it turns brown). Cooks in about 2 - 4 minutes. Not a bad idea to pat some of the oil off with paper towels before you eat it (also it'll be hot so be careful!). Enjoy dipping in your favourite sauce. Also, this would probably be very good as part of a meal with rice and stir-fried veggies on the side.















Yippee! I remembered to take a picture before I ate it all (barely).