Whole Life Times: Veggies from the Sea

March 2006 | Feature

Veggies from the Sea

Spice up your meals with these water-born energizers

by Leslie Cerier

My first taste of seaweed was far from the ocean—in Boulder, Colorado, summer of 1978. I was studying performing arts and arts in education at the Naropa Institute, and new friends had invited me for lunch. They served rice and vegetables wrapped in toasted nori with a spicy wasabi dip. As they spoke about their macrobiotic diet, I fell in love with my first taste of seaweed.

So enamored was I that I dove head-first into an exploration of sea vegetables. I started with Japanese seaweed, making miso soup with wakame, sushi with toasted nori sheets, Asian cabbage salads with arame and sweet sautés with hiziki, parsnips and carrots. Then I discovered California’s silky sea palm and ocean ribbons kombu, and Washington’s kelp pieces so reminiscent of potato chips. I went on to Maine’s seaweeds—dulse, kelp, alaria, digitata kombu and laver, also known as wild nori.

Versatile, dependable and easy to use year-round, sea vegetables are tasty perennial herbs from the ocean. Like herbs, I love to stock up on them all. You never know when the mood will strike for a quick munch of dulse or a sweet onion soup with alaria and croutons.

Sea vegetables are loaded with fiber and chock full of vitamins and minerals: calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, sodium, iodine, manganese, copper, chromium, fluoride, zinc, Vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, C and E. They’ve even got a little protein. Diets rich in sea vegetables have been linked to preventing and healing cancer and heart disease, fighting radiation poisoning and strengthening and beautifying hair and skin.

Like fruit, they are available dried and come in many shapes, textures and flavors that lend them to creative cooking. Arame, hiziki and sea palm are noodle-like in texture and appearance—arame is like angel hair pasta, hiziki resembles spaghetti and sea palm can be used like fettuccini.

When cooked with beans, leafy kelp, dulse and various kombus aid in digestion of the musical fruit. Unlike salt, you can add sea vegetables to beans at the start of the cooking process; their natural sodium content adds flavor without salt.

Long-simmering kelp and dulse readily dissolve in soups, stews and thick, rich-flavored sauces. Sea veggies also have a tenderizing effect on whatever ingredients join them in the pot.

Ginger-Arame Salad (Serves 4)
Tofu, garlic and ginger bring a taste of Asia to this quick and easy salad.

1/2 c. dried arame
8 oz. firm tofu, diced
3 c. thinly sliced green cabbage
1 c. diced celery
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. grated ginger
1/4 c. tamari
2 tbsp. toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp. unsulfured molasses or honey
1/2 c. coarsely chopped cilantro (optional)

1. Place arame in the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Layer the tofu on top followed by layers of cabbage and celery (the water from the tofu will hydrate the arame). Set aside.

2. Place the garlic and ginger in a blender. Add the tamari, sesame oil and molasses, and purée until smooth. Adjust the seasonings, if desired. Combine the dressing with the arame-vegetable mixture.

3. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Leslie Cerier (LeslieCerier.com) is a gourmet organic caterer, cooking teacher, impressionistic nature photographer and author of The Quick and Easy Organic Gourmet, Sea Vegetable Celebration and Going Wild in the Kitchen (Square Publishers, ’05), from which this recipe is adapted

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