Tuesday 24 March 2009

O-hitashi : spinachrolls with sesameseed

This Japanese dish has been around for centuries and is one of my favourites because it's quick to make.

Serves 2
250 grams of spinach
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of water

1/2 tablespoon of sesame seed

Bring slightly salted water to a boil and quickly boil the spinach in it for 20-25 seconds.
(tip : I usually use a pot with a sieve in it so I can lift the spinach out in one move.)
Rinse the spinach straightaway under cold water.
Squeeze all the water from it.
Mix the water and the soy sauce in a bowl and add the spinach to it . Mix the spinach and sauce well.

Heat a dry cooking pan and stir the sesame seed till lightly brown. Take pan from fire.
Squeeze all the sauce from the spinach and form into a roll about 4 cm thick.
(tip: I found this to be very easy if you form a roll and then wrap it into plastic foil.
I firmly squeeze and form the wrapped roll in a makisu ( a bamboo rolling mat used for sushi ) and then remove the foil )
Cut into 4 parts, dip one end in the sesame seeds and serve straight away.

(click for large version ) : Don't they look delicious ?

I like it so much I usually eat all four of them !

3 comments:

Priscilla said...

Oh they do look delicious!! :) I love eating these. They're so plain, but that brings out the flavour of the fresh vegetables! ^_^

Sometimes, when I feel like having a bit more flavour, I have these with a peanut sauce :) It tastes really good!

kirin said...

Those rolls look so cute! Lovely!
soja sauce, you mean soy sauce?
I also like to use non-oil dressings such as ponzu or green perilla instead of soy sauce.
By boiling spinach, we can take large volume of vegetables very easily, so I often make Ohitashi, too. But in this case, mine is not as beautiful as yours, though...:p

Walter said...

Priscilla, you're right about the flavour. At home as kids we used to get spinach only boiled to a pulp , with potatoes and pork or sausage, but I liked it anyway .
This way leaves it slightly crunchy.
The peanut dressing sounded familiar so I've looked through my cookbooks and found the recipe with peanut sauce : it's ground peanuts with soy sauce, and sugar.
It's called Horenso no piinatsu ae. ( try saying piinatsu out loud a few times ;)
My older Japanese cookbook uses 250 grams of spinach for 4 servings and my newer one lists 450 grams with less peanuts for 4 servings. Are the Japanese becoming even more health-conscious ? :)

Kirin,
yes of course it's soy sauce ( soja is Dutch haha).
I have corrected my post.
You think it looks beautiful ? Thank you ! That's so kind. ( Wow a Japanese woman thinks my Japanese cooking is beautiful ( I'll be impossible to live with for the next few weeks ) ^_^ )