When your body is craving minerals, this is the salad to make. Wakame is a mild seaweed with a soft, supple texture once rehydrated, and a light ocean flavour that makes it a good starting point for anyone new to cooking with seaweed. Sold dried, it only needs a brief soak in water to become tender and easy to slice into a salad. It is naturally rich in fibre, calcium, iron, iodine and vitamin A, and needs almost no seasoning beyond what the dressing provides. Paired with crunchy cucumber and a punchy sesame-ginger dressing, it makes a refreshing, mineral-rich starter or light meal, ready in under half an hour once the seaweed has soaked.
Cucumber and Wakame Salad
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Ingredients
- 30 g dried wakame seaweed
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 red pepper, diced
- ½ small red onion, diced
- 60 ml raw cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) coconut aminos
- 1 pinch chilli flakes
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) unrefined sesame oil
- Chopped pickled ginger, to taste (optional)
- Green salad leaves of your choice, such as romaine, to serve
Method
- Cover the wakame with water and leave to soak for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, sprinkle the sliced cucumber with sea salt and set aside for a few minutes to draw out the liquid.
- Drain and discard the seaweed's soaking water, then rinse it thoroughly in a fine-mesh sieve. Squeeze out the excess moisture by hand and transfer the seaweed to a mixing bowl.
- Using kitchen scissors, cut the seaweed into small pieces and add it to the cucumber.
- Add the remaining ingredients, mix well and adjust the seasoning to taste.
- Leave to marinate for about an hour so the flavours can blend.
- Serve over the green salad leaves of your choice.
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FAQ: your questions about wakame seaweed
What are the benefits of wakame?
Wakame is a brown seaweed particularly rich in minerals: calcium, magnesium, iron and iodine, as well as vitamins A, B and C. It is also a good source of marine fibre and amino acids, making it a useful ingredient for boosting the mineral content of a plant-based diet.
What are the downsides of wakame?
Its main limitation is its high iodine content: eating too much, or too often, may not suit people with thyroid conditions, who should check with a healthcare professional before consuming it regularly. Dried wakame is also naturally salty, which is why it is important to rinse it well before use, as in this recipe.
How is wakame seaweed eaten?
Wakame rehydrates in 10 to 15 minutes in cold water before being cut and added to a salad, a miso soup or a noodle dish. In this recipe, it is simply soaked, rinsed, then mixed with cucumber and a sesame-ginger dressing.
Where can you find wakame?
Dried wakame can be found in health food shops and Asian grocery stores, or online — as with the wakame seaweed offered by Biovie, dried at a low temperature to preserve its texture.
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