Japanese gomae is a cold side dish of wilted spinach and a toasted sesame dressing.
The first time I made it I followed exactly the recipe from aheadofthyme.com and tried it out on Lynelle , Jessica, and Patrick. It was alright, and I learned a couple key things about serving this dish: it takes an obscene amount of greens to get any substantial amount, and, don’t skip the step of toasting the seeds.
Today I thought I’d give it a second try, and WHOA success. It was so darn yum, my family immediately devoured every bite and I didn’t get a picture.
This time instead of a tiny side dish portion, I wanted to make an entree meal out of it. Right away I doubled the sauce ingredients. This time around I learned that you can achieve the same flavour and texture by blending it all together. For the greens I used up half our CSA box of greens for this week (which was komatsuna, pac choy, red/green tatsoi, leaf cabbage, etc etc) plus a whole bag of frozen organic spinach.
This made a heaping pile of nutrient dense greens in each bowl, over which I generously poured all of the sauce. Some canned salmon on the side from Oyster Bay was a tasty accompaniment (a gift from Larissa). Since gomae is supposed to be served cold, it’s a great make-ahead meal, ready to serve out of the fridge in a moments notice. I made this entire dinner at 3pm then served it at 5:30.
Here’s my version of the recipe.
Gomae Entree
Steam & cool 800g of greens.
Toast 8 tablespoons of sesame seed in a dry pan. Reserve 2 tablespoons for garnishing.
Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch in
8 tablespoons of water.
Add to a blender or processor:
The cornstarch and water.
The 6 tablespoons of toasted sesame.
4 tablespoons of tamari or soy sauce.
3 tablespoons of honey
Blend until smooth, then cool completely. Serve next to preserved fish or roasted vegetables. Pour sauce over cold steamed greens and garnish with remaining sesame seeds.