Pairing fresh greens in a quick saute with sesame oil, mirin, tamari, and toasted sesame seeds, Garden Fresh Furikake is a robustly seasoned accompaniment to rice and other dishes.
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Part of the process of learning to grow my own food has also, surprisingly, involved learning how to eat. Or rather, learning how to make appetizing use of every edible part of what I have grown. While most plants have an obvious primary harvest, such as the vegetable itself, many plants often also provide an equally useful secondary yield, such as flowers, leaves, stalks, or seeds. In the past, I hadn’t always known what to do with certain parts of what I had grown, and regrettably, had been discarding parts of my harvest that I now await with eager expectation.
Finding new ways to reduce waste
Over the past few years I have become very conscious of the leafy greens that adorn various plants that I grow, or purchase, such as the edible green tops of radishes, daikons, turnips, kohlrabi, and other similar vegetables. Despite being a plant-based eater for most of my life, I hadn’t frequently eaten dishes containing these less common to me leaves, which usually found their way into the compost bin. No longer! After researching various uses for these edible greens, which so often go to waste, I have now settled on the perfect all purpose solution: Garden Fresh Furikake.
What is furikake?
Furikake is a condiment of Japanese origin that is intended to season rice, that is, it is not a stand alone side dish, but rather something that is eaten with rice as part of a meal. Often consumed in a dried form, and easily shaken or sprinkled over rice, furikake is traditionally made in varieties that feature dried fish, vegetables, seaweed, sesame seeds, and other seasonings. Furikake can also be made from fresh greens, as a more substantial seasoning bordering on a side dish, and that is the version that has inspired this recipe.
Ingredients and method
Quick to make Garden Fresh Furikake uses less than 10 ingredients including:
- sesame oil
- safflower or another mild tasting vegetable oil
- fresh sturdy greens of your choice
- mirin - a sweetened japanese cooking wine widely available at many stores
- tamari, or substitute with soy sauce or coconut aminos
- toasted sesame seeds
Needing only a few handfuls of fresh greens, such as the edible, nutritious, and flavourful leafy tops of garden veggies such as radish, daikon, broccoli, and turnip, Garden Fresh Furikake also makes quick use of smaller quantities of common greens that you might have kicking around such as chard, kale, or mustard greens. You may find that some of these greens - such as those of radish or turnip - have a fuzzy texture when raw, but fear not, this will be totally eliminated during the cooking process.
This dish is a great way to use up the tops of greens that you might otherwise throw away, or to use up various bits and bobs from your fridge - low waste cooking at its tastiest!
Once your well washed greens are finely chopped, the cooking method is simple and quick: sesame oil and a neutral oil of your choice are added to a pan, followed by the greens, mirin, tamari, and finally, after some of the liquid has evaporated and the greens have cooked down, the toasted sesame seeds are mixed in. Once cooked, the furikake is cooled to room temperature before serving.
While traditional cooked furikake usually has additional sugar added, I find the sweet cooking wine adds enough sweetness for my palate and to balance out the salty flavours of the tamari; you could always add a teaspoon of sugar to the mirin before cooking if you prefer your furikake a little sweeter.
The Food Find: Japanese roasted sesame seeds
This recipe includes one of my most used pantry staples: Japanese roasted sesame seeds. If you like the idea of plump, perfectly roasted sesame seeds always at the ready then you may also find Japanese roasted sesame seeds as useful as I do. Known as irigoma, this savvy micro timesaver is an essential Food Find for those of us that delight in the nutty crunch of toasted sesame seeds on a regular basis. Find out more about Japanese roasted sesame seeds.
Making bigger batches of furikake
As this recipe requires only a small amount of fresh greens, and makes an even smaller batch of cooked greens, you may want to make more servings if you have a lot of greens to use up, have more people eating with you, or simply want to eat most of the furikake yourself, like I often do. The recipe for Garden Fresh Furikake is easily multiplied with no change to the cooking technique or time other than the size of the pan you use for cooking.
Ways to eat Garden Fresh Furikake
Garden Fresh Furikake is easy to prepare in advance as it is served at room temperature, and makes a flavoursome and nutritious addition to a multitude of dishes.
I especially love to pair Garden Fresh Furikake with rice, Essential Baked Tofu Cubes, sliced radish or salad turnip, and some splashes of a yuzu based hot sauce or sprinkles of shichimi togarashi, for a quick and nutritious dinner, or as a take along lunch, as it is ideally served at room temperature.
I equally love adding a big scoop of Garden Fresh Furikake onto a bowl of steaming noodle soup, eating it alongside edamame and avocado sushi stacks, or stuffed with brown rice into homemade inari. Or, just eating it absentmindedly from a bowl with chopsticks at the kitchen counter, before realizing I’ve eaten it all and that I need to make a bigger batch next time!
Serving and Storage
Garden Fresh Furikake is best served at room temperature, so allow the mixture to cool before serving. If you have any leftovers, they can be stored in the fridge for a few days, but make sure to bring the furikake up to room temperature before serving if you have time.
Pairing
Other dishes I like to eat with Garden Fresh Furikake:
Garden Fresh Furikake
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon safflower or other mild tasting vegetable oil
- 2 cups (or 100 gms) greens washed and finely chopped; use greens such as the leafy tops from daikon, radish, kohlrabi, chard, sturdy spinach, or kale, in any combination, with any large or tough stems removed before measuring and chopping
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 teaspoon organic cane sugar optional, *see note
- 1 tablespoon tamari, or gluten free tamari, soy sauce, or aminos
- 2 teaspoon white or brown sesame seeds toasted
Instructions
- Add both of the oils to a medium sized saute pan and heat over medium/high heat.
- Add the shredded greens and saute until visibly tender, approximately 5 minutes depending on how sturdy your greens are.
- Add the mirin, and stir, cooking for another minute, allowing the liquid to evaporate.
- Add the tamari, and stir, cooking for another minute. Add the toasted sesame seeds, stir, and cook for one more minute.
- The finished greens should be slightly damp, but most of the liquid should have been absorbed or evaporated during the cooking process, so if needed, let the greens cook a slight bit more if needed to reduce any excess liquid.
- Take the pan off the heat, and let the greens cool to room temperature before enjoying with your favourite rice and other accompaniments.
- Garden Fresh Furikake keeps well in the fridge for a number of days, but make sure you bring the greens back to room temperature before eating for ideal flavour. Enjoy!
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