Gomashio is a Japanese condiment made from toasted sesame seeds with sea salt, used often in Macrobiotic cooking. This recipe includes a little added seaweed - it's simple and delicious!

This week I’ve been diving in and out of my favourite Macrobiotic cook books, and have an energetically warming, grounding, nourishing millet dish on the way for you. A delicious and easy to make condiment that really jazzes up your plant based dishes, is the Japanese sesame salt – gomashio.

Gomashio is traditionally a simple combination of toasted sesame seeds, ground with sea salt. Used as a seasoning over anything really – it’s fabulous sprinkled in your sushi before you roll it up, over hot soups and broths, salads and grains.

[bctt tweet="How to make Gomashio - the classic Japanese sesame salt - with a seaweed twist! Recipe here."]

Now, I have a wee twist on this classic, it simply adds a bit of seaweed – which gives the added benefit of sneaking in some minerals - particularly, iodine.

The variety I have used is called Karengo, which is a delicious, yet mild tasting seaweed related to nori, native to New Zealand. Dulse flakes or kelp would work a treat if you can’t get your paws on New Zealand Karengo (I suspect wakame would be a bit tough, it is much nicer reconstituted in water/broths/soup).

Karengo

Karengo is the Maori name for Porphyra spp., a species of red seaweed that has long been a part of the traditional diet. It grows abundantly along the Kaikoura coastline in the South Island. In the 1800’s, European settlers in New Zealand would make it into a milk pudding with a local variety of carrageenan, and, it was sent (dried) to troops during the Second World War – perhaps for its laxative effects (bizarre but true!) [1].

By the way, you may be more familiar with carageenan as Irish Moss – used in raw foods cuisine as a natural thickener – for example, to make a mousse, pudding or light cake without using cashews. I’ve done a post on How to Make Irish Moss Paste here.

History aside, seaweeds in general are known to be a good source of minerals, and, as our soils are so deplete, including just a little daily is a good way to up your intake, and incorporating them into a tasty seasoning is one such way to go about it.

Happy experimenting – I’ll be sharing the perfect dish to use your new sprinkles on soon.

Lx.

📖Recipe

How to make Gomashio

Naturopath Lauren Glucina

Sesame, seaweed and salt combine to make a simple yet tasty condiment. Yields approx. 2 cups, 32 servings (1 tablespoon per).

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Total Time 20

Course Condiment

Cuisine Japanese, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings

Calories 30 kcal

Ingredients

1 cup sesame seeds
1 cup karengo fronds or, dulse flakes, kelp
Two teaspoons coarse sea salt

Instructions

Toast the sesame seeds in a dry non-stick frying pan and set aside.
Toast the karengo fronds.
Add all ingredients to a food processor. Blitz till combined. Store in an air tight jar in the pantry.
Yummy in sushi, or sprinkled over soups and salads.