10 Ways to Incorporate Sea Vegetables

posted in: Recipes, Sea Vegetables | 0

Several people have asked me for simple ideas for incorporating sea vegetables into meals. Sea vegetables are packed full of minerals and other nutrients. They are potent and you really don’t need much.

In my macrobiotic studies, a common recommendation for consumption of sea vegetables is an average of two tablespoons per day in addition to wakame in soup and a postage stamp size piece of kombu added per cup of legumes during cooking. Lately, instead of kombu, I have been using the kelp I harvested over the summer.

One other thing to note is that cooking sea vegetables with oil (or any fat) greatly increases the body’s absorption of oil-soluble minerals such as iron and calcium.

Another post specifically on sea vegetables in condiments will join this one in a week or two. I have provided some information about where to get good quality sea vegetables on my macrobiotic resource page. In addition, every summer, Jennifer Adler leads a group in harvesting seaweed along the coast in Washington State.

1.  Add kombu/kelp to homemade beans. This increases digestibility and adds minerals. Add wakame to soup, especially miso soup.

2.  Nori is super versatile. Cut into thin strips to garnish soup. Cook nori with shoyu and water, add ginger at the end and you have a condiment for grains. Form into nori rolls or hand rolls.

3.  Blanch arame in boiling water for 10-15 seconds and add to grain or pasta salads. Chop smaller if you don’t want long strips.

4.  Caramelize onions with hijiki or arame and then puree with tofu and seasonings to create a spread.

5.  Use agar to make kanten and puddings.

6.  Sauté pieces of dulse with unrefined sesame oil until crispy. Sprinkle on grains and garnish soups. Pile into a sandwich with loads of vegetables and tofu mayo.

7.  Sauté arame, hijiki or sea palm with onions and sweet vegetables, like this or this.

8.  Soak dried sea vegetables and pile onto a lettuce or kale salad. Puree dulse or wakame into a salad dressing. Add a handful of soaked dulse to pressed salad.

9.  Pickle sea vegetables with other vegetables, like carrots, daikon and onion, in a sea salt brine.

10.  Take a seaweed bath. Simmer a good amount of kombu, kelp or arame in water for 15 minutes. Strain and then add to your bath water.