🏠 Horenso no Gomae – Easy Tasty Japanese Spinach Salad Recipe

Another favourite side dish of mine. I don’t know how you could grow up disliking spinach if this was served during childhood.

Being less phonetic than the title, “hourensou” means spinach, and “goma-ae” means mixed with sesame.

It might look a bit heavy on the sugar, but Japanese people tend to live long, right?

Ingredients

• Spinach – 1 bunch of whole spinach, or 1 family pack of baby spinach leaves
• Sesame seeds – 1 table spoon (15ml) lightly ground
• Soy sauce – 1 table spoon (15ml)
• Sugar – 1 table spoon (15ml)
• Salt for blanching – 2 tea spoons (10ml) per 1 litre.

How to make Japanese spinach salad

1. Chop whole spinach into 4cm lengths, or use whole baby spinach leaves.
2. Blanch spinach in boiling water (with salt ratio above) for 2 minutes. Cool in water, drain, and dry on paper towels.
3. Mix sesame seeds, soy sauce, and sugar.
4. Mix in spinach immediately before eating.

Mixing in the spinach just before eating is to avoid the saltiness of the dressing drawing the moisture out of the spinach, making the salad watery.

Spinach can be replaced with green beans. Chop the head and tail off, then cut in half before blanching for an extra minute.