Why seaweed could be the next trendy Hong Kong food
Think seaweed in food and Japanese cuisine springs to mind, but it has long been used in other cuisines. Now chefs in Hong Kong are widening its use as a flavouring and garnish
For most people, seaweed is synonymous with Japanese cuisine, where it’s used dried – pressed into sheets to make various types of sushi, and fresh, in salads and pickles. The Japanese are probably the most creative in the ways they incorporate the “vegetables of the sea” into their food, but they’re not the only ones to use it. Korean and Chinese chefs have used it for thousands of years, and it is also a feature of some European cuisines – and its use is growing.
At Sushi Dokoro Ikkei, a small fine-dining Japanese restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui, chef owner Kazuki Hirae explains that seaweed, and especially kelp, the largest form of seaweed, is a hidden ingredient in Japanese cuisine.
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“Many cooked Japanese dishes use dashi, a broth, and every chef’s dashi is different depending on the different kinds of kombu [kelp] they use, where they get it, and how it was dried,” says Hirare, through his wife Akie, who helped translate.
Sheets of dried kelp are placed in boiling water with finely shaved katsuo (dried and fermented skipjack tuna) then strained. The resulting light, clear broth is used as a base for miso soup, chawanmushi and other cooked dishes.
“Housewives can buy premade dashi in supermarkets, while chefs prepare dashi every morning and it’s used a lot in ramen shops and restaurants. It is used to season pork and fish,” Hirae says.
