Algae are no longer just an extravagant dish to be enjoyed in Chinese and Japanese restaurants when it happens, they have entered Western food for several years now, in the form of various dishes and original dishes.
Algae really exist of many types, more or less tasty or delicate, rich in nourishing properties such as minerals, proteins, precious mucilages.
What is certain is that when you wander among the shelves of supermarkets or ethnic shops it is difficult to get an idea of what type of algae you put in your cart: for our culinary culture, we are not always so used to associating a certain type of seaweed with a certain type of dish or preparation .
Here are some small and simple recipes with the various types of algae that can help.
1. Black beans with kombu seaweed
Ingredients for three people :
> 3 cups of dried black beans,
> 1 strip of kombu seaweed,
> 1 tablespoon of shoyu,
> 1 head of green radicchio and one of red radicchio
> 1 cucumber if you like
> 2 carrots
> 1 red onion
> chopped fresh parsley> half a squeezed lemon> a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil> 1 tablespoon of umeboshi acidulated.
Preparation: soak the beans the night before, then cook them after rinsing them in the pressure cooker for about 50 minutes together with the kombu seaweed strip; when they are cooked, remove the lid and add shoyu, cooking for another five minutes. Drain everything while washing and finely chop the two heads of radicchio, combining the rest of the finely chopped vegetables. Season with oil, lemon juice, acidulated, and shoyu. Mix everything well and serve.
The kombu algae eaten both cooked and raw, their use and optimal combination is with legumes, but they are also good in soups and soups. You can also use sauté as a side dish and to flavor fillings, or in potato omelette.
The glutamic acid contained in this alga softens the fibers of other foods, for this reason a strip of cooked kombu with beans or other legumes serves to make them soft faster and to enhance their flavor, freeing nutrients of great value and increasing general digestibility of the dish; it is particularly suitable for those suffering from intestinal fermentation. This process is reciprocal since even the kombu becomes softer when cooked with protein-rich foods.
2. Miso soup with tofu and wakame seaweed
Ingredients for 2 people :> a couple of strips of wakame seaweed> 50 grams of natural tofu> chives or a couple of onions> miso (you buy the preparation in specialized shops)> a fresh ginger root.
Preparation : cut the Wakame seaweed into small pieces and leave to soak in cold water for about 10 minutes. Then cut the tofu into small cubes and finely chop the chives or, better still, the new onion, even the green part. Light the fire and slowly bring the water to the boil with the seaweed, tofu and chives or onion.
When the water is about to start boiling, turn off the heat and add the miso melted in a little hot water. Let the soup rest for 5 minutes and before serving, adding a teaspoon of ginger juice made previously from the grated fresh root.
This brown Japanese seaweed, now also cultivated along the Breton coasts, is known because it makes you lose weight, has a fairly delicate taste, similar to kombu. It is sold dehydrated, like most algae, and its volume is multiplied by ten times once it has been soaked .
A classic ingredient of miso soup, it is used in soups, pasta dishes and combines well with vegetables.
To aid digestion we begin the meal with miso soup
3. Barley with spirulina algae
Ingredients for two people > 50 grams of pearl barley, > a courgette> a carrot> a potato> half an onion> a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil> 1 tablespoon of dried spirulina algae 1 tablespoon of gomasio> half a teaspoon of dried marjoram> salt and pepper to taste.
Preparation : cook the barley in plenty of salted water, in the meantime cut all the vegetables into cubes and sauté them in a pan with a little oil, adding a little boiling water to cook them. At the end of cooking add the spirulina, gomasio to the vegetables and season with salt and pepper, mix together and serve warm.
Spirulina powder can also be combined with fruit juices, yoghurt, centrifuged vegetables or for the preparation of energy drinks for sportsmen: a known post-hangover remedy is a shake prepared with apple juice and a half spoon of spirulina algae powder. Seaweed can also be used in cooking in the preparation of desserts and savory dough.
4. Agar-agar, strawberry jelly
Ingredients for two people
> half a liter of apple juice> an agar-agar tablet> 10 strawberries> 40 raisins
> 2 tablespoons of sweet wine (if desired, otherwise it can be substituted with lemon juice)
Preparation : heat the agar-agar in a little apple juice to melt it, add the wine. In the meantime, distribute the sliced strawberries and the raisins in small bowls and pour over the agar syrup, place in the fridge to allow to thicken for a few hours before consuming.
The agar-agar, called kanten by the Japanese, is a natural tasteless jelly made from a red alga called tengusa; it is used as a thickener in the preparation of desserts, spoon cakes, aspics, puddings or creams. Also known as gelose, it contains a low percentage of proteins, but is rich in carbohydrates, calcium and iron, which make it an excellent supplement in the strictest vegetarian diets.
Where to find algae?
Algae can be found both in natural food stores and in Chinese or Japanese ethnic shops or in large supermarkets . Powdered spirulina is most commonly found in herbal medicine.
