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A classic Japanese side dish featuring tender blanched spinach tossed in a nutty and savory toasted sesame dressing. It's a simple, healthy, and flavorful addition to any meal, ready in just 15 minutes.
Prepare the Sesame Dressing (Goma-ae)
Blanch the Spinach
Cool and Squeeze the Spinach
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A classic Japanese side dish featuring tender blanched spinach tossed in a nutty and savory toasted sesame dressing. It's a simple, healthy, and flavorful addition to any meal, ready in just 15 minutes.
This japanese recipe takes 15 minutes to prepare and yields 4 servings. At 73.97 calories per serving with 3.16g of protein, it's a beginner-friendly recipe perfect for side or snack or appetizer.
Combine and Serve
Use other blanched vegetables like green beans (ingen gomae), asparagus, or broccoli. Adjust the blanching time accordingly for each vegetable.
For a deeper umami flavor, add 1/2 teaspoon of miso paste or a pinch of dashi powder to the sesame dressing.
Replace the sugar with an equal amount of honey or maple syrup for a different kind of sweetness. Note that this will slightly change the traditional flavor profile.
Toss in some cooked and shelled edamame or rehydrated hijiki seaweed for extra texture and nutrients.
Spinach is an excellent source of Vitamin K, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, folate, iron, and calcium, which are essential for bone health, vision, and immune function.
Sesame seeds provide heart-healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which can help lower bad cholesterol levels and support overall cardiovascular health.
Both spinach and sesame seeds are rich in antioxidants that help protect the body against oxidative stress and inflammation, contributing to long-term health.
The combination of calcium from sesame seeds and Vitamin K from spinach creates a powerful duo that contributes to building and maintaining strong, healthy bones.
Yes, it's very healthy. Spinach is packed with vitamins K, A, and C, as well as iron and folate. Sesame seeds provide healthy fats, protein, and calcium. The dressing is light, making it a highly nutritious side dish.
A typical serving of Spinach Gomae contains approximately 80-100 calories, making it a light and low-calorie option suitable for most diets.
Absolutely! The sesame dressing can be prepared up to a week in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Just give it a good stir before tossing it with the spinach.
A suribachi is a traditional Japanese grooved mortar, used with a pestle (surikogi). It's ideal for grinding sesame seeds to the perfect texture. If you don't have one, a spice grinder or a regular mortar and pestle will also work well.
The most common reason for watery gomae is not squeezing enough water out of the blanched spinach. After cooling the spinach in the ice bath, gather it into a ball and squeeze it very firmly with your hands until it's as dry as possible.
Yes, you can use frozen spinach as a convenient alternative. Thaw it completely and then squeeze out all the excess water very thoroughly before chopping and mixing with the dressing. You can skip the blanching step.
