Goma-ae
October 01, 2005
Goma-ae has to be one of my all time favorite Japanese dishes. I just love the taste of the hyper fresh spinach, the sweet sesame dressing and the crunch of the little sesame seeds. I once made this dish (about 8 years ago) and I remember being stunned that the sweetness came from the crushed sesame seeds and just a little bit of sugar...I couldn't believe that the seeds were that sweet and creamy in their own right. The ingredients were simple; miso, spinach, sesame seeds and sugar and the results were legendary (at least in my own culinary library). It was literally one of the first times I'd made anything Asian and I was delighted with my end product. I think I got the recipe from the Moosewood cookbook (those were the days when I lived in LA and I'd hike Runyan Canyon for an hour, drink smoothies for breakfast and then slam down a huge bowl of chocolate mousse for dinner). I guess I still have those crazy habits and really, does the sweet tooth ever go away? I'm sure that's why I love the goma-ae...it's the sugar, not the spinach. Rather, the sugar makes the spinach good. Let's just face facts, I guess I just love sugar~
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