Cravings are both a blessing and a curse.
A blessing because they help me make up my mind (I swear 99% of the time I can’t decide on what to make for dinner even when I’m half-way through making it).
A curse because when I do get that oh-so-rare lightbulb moment, it’s usually for a fairly random food and the chances of me actually having it on hand are slim to none.
The other day my mind stomach was absolutely dead set on seaweed.
Oddly enough, I actually had some wakame chilling in the pantry.
I also had firm tofu…so slowly but surely a recipe started forming in my head.
Hmmmm…does that look firm to you? Dear Mr. Azumaya, if that’s your idea of firm, then I feel bad for your wife. Needless to say, my plan of cooking it on the George Foreman grill went out the window. Instead, I decided to have the tofu au natural and left it in my tofu xpress to remove all the liquid. It certainly had it’s work cut out for it.
Well done!
Meanwhile…on the seaweed front…
I put about a cup of dried seaweed in some luke warm water (so it was fully submerged). And that’s it.
In no time at all it started absorbing the water. Growing…
…and growing…until it had absorbed most of the water. I set it aside and then I got to chopping.
Delicata!
And yes, for those who have noticed, I do have a cutting board with my blog name on it (thanks sister!!).
While the delicata squash was steaming, I drained the seaweed and added the “firm” tofu, and a sample packet of Bragg’s Sea Kelp Delight that I received from the company in the mail.
I also grated a carrot into the mix.
Yup. A single carrot. I would have added more, but our grater is from the 90’s and my patience was waning at an alarming rate.
Ta-ta-ta-tasty.
All together now.
FYI, the Bragg’s sea kelp seasoning has kelp*, rosemary*, onion*, garlic*, thyme*, red bell pepper*, carrot*, tomato*, black pepper*, basil*, Bragg Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil*, parsley*, tarragon*, lemon peel*, orange peel*, Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar*, celery seed*, dill seed*, oregano*, savory*, sage*, ginger*, coriander*, bay leaf*, turmeric*.
* organic ingredients
(So basically it’s an entire spice cabinet in a shaker)
As if there weren’t enough ingredients already in the mix, I also added these.
It’s like a Bragg’s commercial up in hurrrr. I swear, I honestly do love the stuff. I used 3 tbsp Bragg’s liquid aminos, 1 tbsp Bragg’s apple cider vinegar, and a dried seaweed/sesame seed mix. I don’t know how to read those Japanese characters, but I did take a pic of the ingredients for you all.
These are the products you can get at specialty markets for $$$$ or Japantown for $.
The only thing left to do is mix and serve. Easy enough right?
I couldn’t help but take 600 photos of it…I’ll spare you from scrolling through them and only post the best few.
A quick ingredient recap:
- 1/2 block firm tofu
- 1 cup wakame seaweed (soaked in water, then drained)
- 1 carrot (grated)
- 1 delicata squash (steamed)
- 3 tbsp Bragg’s liquid aminos
- 1 tbsp Bragg’s apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp dried seaweed/sesame seed mix
In case you didn’t notice, I omitted the Bragg’s sample packet from the above recipe because it wasn’t my fave. The rosemary and other Italian seasonings were odd when combined with the mostly Asian flavors. Fortunately, they were very mild, and the rest of the dish was really good. I love when healthy ingredients are combined in such a way that I am mmmmmm-ing my way to the bottom of the bowl.
Mmmm…
Never had seaweed before, but your recipe looks good.
Hahahaha, the “firm” comment had me cracking up 😉
That looks really effing good despite the fact that none of the ingredients appeal to me that much on a base level. Nicely done my friend. How about crunchy seaweed – is that your fried? Cos I can seriously get into that stuff!
Wait..did I miss something or did you eat that tofu raw? I would not have thought that would taste good, but I trust you!
I love the confetti of different colors in that dish!
yup! raw plain tofu. i love it that way and in fact whenever i make a tofu recipe, half of it ends up eaten plain as im cooking before i do whatever with the rest of it. if you are into that signature (some might say chalky) taste, id say try it!! otherwise, you can use it in dishes like this (still raw) but the other flavors will mask that tofu flavor.
I have never had a craving for seaweed but you made it sound really appealing in this post! I can’t wait until squash is in season this fall!
This looks SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!
Yay for squash–you’ve inspired me to seek out some delicata this week at the store:)
my lil’ hippie…how i love that we share our liberal ways! i in fact, was in love with josh’s “two dads are better than none” shirt. it made my night.
anyways, i caught up on a week’s worth of eats and i have several hesitations: kelp noodles and seaweed. i don’t know if i can do it. help a sister out. i think its more of a mental block than anything.
i *LOVE* that you *LOVE* the beer pizza dough recipe. so easy, and nobody will ever know you used bud light 🙂
hearts,
holly