I love eating seaweed salad. I usually order it whenever I’m eating at a Japanese restaurant or buy it ready made from grocery store. One day, my husband asked me why the store bought seaweed salad looked unnaturally green. I never really paid attention to the ingredients of the seaweed salad, sure enough there is food coloring listed in the ingredients.

I actually allow myself (and my family)to eat junk food once in a while, as a treat. But, I don’t like consuming unnecessary chemicals that does not enhance flavor. Basically, if I want to eat something bad, it better taste good.

So, I began looking for dried seaweed to make my own seaweed salad. There are so many different kinds of dried seaweed, it was overwhelming. Finally, I just randomly grabbed one and hoped that it will work.

This is the one that I ended up with, and fortunately, it was the right kind.

It is very fast to rehydrate the seaweed. All you need to do is just soak it in a big bowl of water for minutes.

Here are the ingredients for the sesame dressing:

• 1/2 cup of vinegar (apple cider vinegar if you’re on Paleo diet)
• 1/4 cup of sesame oil
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce (coconut amino if you’re on Paleo diet)
• 2 inches of ginger (more or less)
• 1/4 cup of sugar (or honey)
• sesame seed for garnish (optional)

Directions:

• Put the dried seaweed in a big bowl (it will expand so much, you don’t want to use a small bowl)

• Fill the bowl with water, until it is about 3/4 full.

• Let the seaweed sit and soaked while you make the dressing.

• Put all the dressing’s ingredients in a small blender and mix well. If you don’t want to use a blender, just grate the ginger and mix it with the rest of the ingredients.

• When the seaweed  is soft and looks hydrated, drain the water and put it in a bowl.

• Pour the dressing and mix well.

On a lazy summer day, I serve seaweed salad with tuna sashimi and avocado.

 Tips:

• I like to keep dried seaweed in the pantry as an emergency vegetable.
• I also make a big batch of seaweed salad to keep in the fridge just in case the kids are hungry before I have the chance to prepare food.