Horenso no Goma-ae, Spinach with Sesame Dressing
Goma-ae, dressed in ground sesame, is one of the small cold vegetable dishes that fill out a Japanese meal. Spinach is the classic, blanched fast and then wrung out hard, because any water left in the leaves thins the dressing and makes it slide off. The dressing itself is toasted sesame ground to a rough, oily paste, seasoned with a little tamari and sweetened here with a date in place of the usual sugar. Grinding only part of the sesame and leaving the rest whole gives you both the clinging paste and the pop of the seed.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Spinach
- 3 tbsp Sesame seeds, toasted
- 2 tsp Low-sodium tamari
- 1 piece Deglet noor dates, pitted, mashed with 1 tbsp (15 ml) hot water into a paste
Method
- Blanch the spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds, then plunge it into ice water. A quick blanch collapses the volume and fixes the color, and the ice bath keeps it green and stops it from stewing into a gray heap.
- Gather the spinach into a ball and squeeze out as much water as you can, then cut it into 1.5-inch (4 cm) lengths. Wet spinach thins the dressing and makes it slide off, so wring it hard.
- Grind 2 tbsp of the sesame to a rough, damp paste in a mortar, keeping the last tablespoon whole. Half-ground seeds give the clinging paste and whole seeds give the pop, and you want both in the bowl.
- Stir the tamari and date paste into the ground sesame, then toss the spinach through it. Dressing the squeezed spinach off the heat keeps it silky rather than slippery.
- Scatter the reserved whole sesame over the top and serve at room temperature. It holds a day in the fridge, though the color dulls.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 90 calories, 5 g protein, 3 g fiber, 130 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
