Chinatown Mystery #3
By Dyske April 20th, 2009
This one looks like seaweed molded into a disk shape. In Japan, I’ve never seen seaweed molded in this fashion. Perhaps it’s not seaweed at all. What is it? What do you use it for? And, why is it shaped like that?
Frank Luo says:
April 20th, 2009 at 11:28 pmThis is a type of seaweed. The Chinese call it “purple vegetable” zicai 紫菜. It is similar to Japanese nori, I guess, but it comes in much bigger pieces when rehydrated, so either it’s a different species, or the Japanese cut it up before making paper-thin sheets of nori.
From what I understand these are not so processed as nori — nori is roasted and ready to eat as is while these are simply sun-dried in molds. You would break off pieces from the disk, rehydrate them, and then put them in soups or sauces. As with most types of seaweed, they impart a briny, fresh flavor that adds to the flavor profile, and also Umami, which is known to the Chinese as xianwei 鲜味.
Unlike nori, I would not eat these straight. Since these are raw and vary in grade — the lower grade stuff sometimes has bits of sand in it. If uncertain of the quality, you would soak these in plenty of water, then swish them around in the water a bit to get rid of any bits of sand or aything else caught in them, then drop them into what you’re cooking. If you trust the brand enough you could drop it straight into soup and let them rehydrate in the soup, but I would not advise eating them without cooking in any case.
A very common homestyle dish is the seaweed tofu soup. You would start with a clear chicken or pork bone broth, with just a touch of salt and maybe a few slices of raw ginger, put in some sliced pork and cubed tofu, bring it to a full boil and then add the bits of seaweed. Dress with a bit of chopped scallion, a dash of white pepper powder, and maybe a few drops of sesame oil and even black rice vinegar, and you’re good to go.
Two other popular variant ingredients are sliced tomatoes and eggs. If using an egg, once you bring the soup to a full boil, add a well-beaten egg while stirring the soup to achieve the “flowering” effect for the egg. If using tomatoes, add them in wedges at the beginning, before you put in the pork — sliced pork will cook a lot faster than tomatoes will warm up all the way through, so if you put them all in at once the pork will come out too hard.
I have also seen this in clear sauces for meat dishes, where the fresh briny flavor contrasts nicely with the richness of the meat, and. of course, Umami. A quick google search indicates that it is also popular in dumplings and spring rolls (pre-boiled if used in fresh springrolls as opposed to the deep-dried variety), where they no doubt serve the same purpose.
michan says:
April 24th, 2009 at 7:18 pmmmm must be like ” LUCHE” here in chile
it must be rehytrated to be eaten… personally i hate luche with potatoes….
yuuuuk
JGchowda says:
May 10th, 2009 at 6:30 amThis shit is so good in soup! yumm
Roxzane says:
October 24th, 2009 at 5:28 am^^ There is something similar to this in Korea. It’s dried seaweed that has been molded into a shape and has salt, but sometimes it is also sweet~