Dulse - many ways to eat

Dulse is by far the most popular seaweed in Western cultures, widely eaten - as both food and medicine - in Ireland, Iceland, Canada and the Northeastern parts of the United States. It is the Western World's equivalent of nori, which is widely eaten not only in Japan, but also Korea and China.

Like nori, this red algae seaweed is highly versatile and can be eaten in a number of ways:

• Fresh and directly off the rocks along sea coasts
  
  
• Dried and uncooked, as a snack - including at drinks parties
  
  
• Fried as crunchy chips, again as snacks with drinks
  
  
• Ground into flakes or powder and sprinkled over food
  
  
• With butter, which is the traditional way of eating this seaweed in Iceland
  
  
• In soups (including thick dreamy chowders), salads and sandwiches
  
  
• Added to bread / pizza
  
  
• Smoked. I used to enjoy smoked-dulse from Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, eaten straight off the packet. It is quite delicious and can be addictive, so go easy on them. Do not over-eat.

Here, I will share three recipes that use this versatile seaweed.

Seaweed cucumber salad

This is a simple seaweed cucumber salad, but with a slighlty more complex dressing than the usual vinegar.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup dried dulse
• 2 small cucumbers
  
  
• 2 or 3 umeboshi (salted plums) or 2 tbsp umeboshi paste
• 2 to 3 tbsp roasted tahini (sesame paste)
• 1 tbsp grated onion
• 1 tbsp chopped scallions / spring onions

METHOD:

1. Slice cucumber not too thinly, about 2 or 3 mm thickness. Mix with the seaweed and set aside for 30 minutes to one hour.
2. In a suribachi or mortar, puree umeboshi until smooth. Add tahini and grated onion and mix well to form a creamy texture.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad mixture just before serving. Serve topped with chopped scallions.

VARIATION: Try this same recipe using Wakame Seaweed.

Dulse-tahini salad dressing

Here is another seaweed salad recipe. But in this case, the seaweed is used to make the salad dressing, rather than the salad.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup dried dulse
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp shoyu
• 1 tbsp tahini

METHOD:

1. Mix the seaweed with lemon juice and shoyu and let it soak for five minutes or longer.
2. Add tahini and mix well to form a creamy dressing.

SERVWE WITH...

• A salad of carrot, celery, cucumber and other hard, crisp vegetables.
• A salad of celery, cucumber, raisins and roasted nuts or seeds, such as walnut, cashews, almonds, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, etc

Creamy corn soup

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup dried dulse
• 1 small onion, sliced thinly
• 1 ear fresh corn kernels
• 1 stalk celeruy, cut into thin diagonals
• 5 cups water
• pinch of sea salt
• 4 tbsp white miso
• chpooed parsley for garnish

METHOD:

1. Place all the ingredients, except the miso, into a soup pot and bring to the boil.
2. Reduce the fire to medium low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. If the oats cause foaming, skim off the foam and make the fire smaller.
3. Remove a bit of the hot soup, dissolved miso in it, return to the pot and simmer another three minutes.
4. Garnish with chopped parsley, celery leaves or other fresh herbs.

More recipes

Click here the following links for more recipe ideas, substituting dulse in wakame recipes and nori seaweed recipes.

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