Hijiki Seaweed, Nori, Wakame - Healthful! ~ Teczcape-An Escape to Food

WHAaat? I made it to Foodbuzz Top 9, November 17, 2010! Rather, my Parchment-Baked Superfruity Chicken Wings "flew" right there. Thanks, Foodbuzz. :)

Have you caught the festive joyous mood yet? I have started "kitchen shopping". Just ordered the Pizza Cutter - one of Alton Brown's fav. gadgets from Amazon!

So, here is the deal: Enjoy the Black Friday Event (22-27 Nov) with savings up to 50% on a wide selection of products for the home from kitchen knives to appliances. THEN, also the Cyber Monday Event (28-29 Nov) with savings up to 50% on products including kitchen appliances. It's online shopping. No 4am-queuing at the departmental stores or gate crashing. Get your deals at the comfort of your home, in your PJs. Ha!

I digress.

Wanted to tell you how it started with Wakame, then Nori and now Hijiki. All the seaweeds! Counting to that, I have tried three different seaweeds altogether. Not much, considering it is super-nutrition food! I should eat more. Specifically, Hijiki contains dietary fiber and minerals such as iron, calcium, and magnesium (with a good calcium and magnesium balance, ratio of Ca:Mg ~ 2:1). Do you know Magnesium helps our body absorb and retain Calcium? Now you know.

Which is the type of seaweed, most often appearing in your kitchen and why did you choose that?

My recent encounter with Hijiki was kinda noob. Walking the aisle of the Japanese grocery store, with so many different seaweed(s) appearing right in front of me. The shiny. The long and curvy. The black and mysterious. Finally, I picked one which read a relatively higher iron content. The point goes - for the same kind of food, why not choose the most nutrient-dense? So I picked Hijiki with the slightest idea what I wanted to do with it. But all these Japanese dishes came to me, and of course the first being...MISO SOUP! Well, I don't think Hijiki is traditionally used for miso soup but What The H***! Buy first! We'll talk about that later.

Kind of wormy looking right? Crunchy texture. Oh no, suitable for soup?

Hijiki, after rehydrating in cold water for 15-20 mins.
Personally, I think Nori is one of the better versatile seaweed when it comes to dishes: be it soup, salad, snacks and wraps.

Nori Recipes:
Nori-Wrapped Shrimps
Nori Wraps
Tahini-Nori Dressed Soba Noodles
Seaweed Tomato Soup

Wakame Recipe:
Wakame Soup

To learn more about seaweed, head over to Oyster Food and Culture for more.

This healthful sea-vegetable will be my ingredient spotlight for Weekend Herb Blogging #260. WHB is Five and WHB#260 is hosted right at Cook Almost Anything.