Knotted seaweed salad recipe

Here is another quick and healthy dish from my mom's kitchen (Ah ma's kitchen) in Taiwan -  fresh knotted seaweed salad.

Ingredients required:

- A small package of fresh knotted seaweed (Hai Dai). Non-knotted seaweed is ok too. If you use dried seaweed, make sure to soak in water first to rehydrate it. If you have a long belted seaweed, cut it to biteable size.

- Firm Tofu, fried Tofu (triangle or square), or vegetarian meat (made of Tofu usually), chopped into small cubes. Boil the Tofu first quickly to make sure it is safe to add to salad.

- Seasoning herb: garlic, ginger, scallion, chili pepper, white sesame seeds. Slice all the herbs, and lightly toast the white sesame seeds, or grind the sesame seeds slightly for more fragrance if you like. 

- Any leafy green salad vegetables (such as lettuce). Chopped to smaller pieces. For added color, flavor, and nutrition.

- Sesame oil, vinegar (white or fruit flavor), sugar and salt.

How to cook:

1. wash seaweed (Hai Dai) in water. If dried, soak longer until soft first.

2. Cook seaweed in a pot of water (enough to cover the seaweed) for a minute or two. Do not overcook or the seaweed will get soggy. Drain the water.

3. In a separate bowl, prepare chopped or sliced garlic, ginger, scallion, and pepper. Add chopped green vegetables. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, some sugar and salt.

4. Pour the seasoning on top of the cooked seaweed. You can toast or crush some white sesame seeds and sprinke on the top (optional).

knotted seaweed salad. Recipe on the blog at www.picturehealer.com

5. Ready to serve, hot or cold. 

This dish tastes good either hot or chilled (after refrigeration). If you don't have all ingredients, substitute or leave out some is ok. Since it is a salad, you can add or take out some ingredients depending on what you have at home. 

This knotted seaweed salad goes well with Oyster soup from the previous article. Add some rice and you have a balanced meal.

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