Dr. Oz Discusses Seaweed: The Day Has Finally Come for Sentient Seaweed Consumption
I never thought that I would see the day that Dr. Oz learned about the health benefits of seaweed, but it has happened!
It was not the primary segment, but a part of the show was devoted to an expert guest explaining some of the different types of seaweed or sea vegetables to Dr. Oz.
It’s about time and I hope that you take this opportunity to include several seaweeds in your diet.
Most of you are familiar with nori which is a basic component of sushi. You can make nori rolls at home with rice, vegetables, condiments, and other healthy ingredients. There are sushi kits for those of you who need some assistance to begin to make nori rolls. Once you get the hang of it, you will find your creative juices flowing and experiment with all kinds of ingredients.
We like to finely slice carrot, cucumber, bell pepper, and other vegetables and lay them across the length of the roll. We sprinkle sesame seeds and rive vinegar with toasted sesame oil to enhance the other flavors before rolling it up with the sushi mat. We season our rice with vinegar and occasionally add a little natural sweetener if it goes with our ingredients. We use avocado, roasted vegetables, grated ginger, scallions, and other ingredients that we have on hand in our nori rolls. Wasabi and pickled ginger or pickled daikon are great accompaniments to nori rolls.
You can also make organic brown rice balls with nori and put a variety of ingredients inside with the rice. They make a nice snack or bite with a meal. The nori serves as a wrapper to hold the ball together. We like to dip the nori balls into a dip made with tamari, toasted sesame oil, grated ginger, grated garlic, scallions, and some chili flakes. You can make the dip sweet with honey, too.
Another favorite of ours is wakame. We use it in soups, side dishes, and stews most of the time. The spore leaves of the wakame contain cancer-fighting properties and many people who eat with a Macrobiotic diet use wakame and other sea vegetables to support the body’s immune system.
We like to make salads with hiziki and other seaweeds. With the right blend of ingredients, the hiziki makes a salad into a meal. The first time we ate at The House of Africa in San Diego, we fell in love with their hiziki salad and continued to make them at home. We vary the hiziki with arame, too.
You can find sea vegetables used in Chinese and other types of Asian cooking. You might even take a look in your Hot and Sour Soup the next time you eat out and you’ll find small strands of sea vegetables that make the soup healthy and hearty. Most commercial seaweeds have been dehydrated for easy transport and storage, so you have to soak them in water to rehydrate them before you cook with them the same way you would do with shi’itake mushrooms and noodles.
One of our most common uses of seaweed in soups is kombu. It takes a little time to rehydrate, but then you slice it into short strips and add it to soups. The salty flavor and that extra ‘something’ makes a big difference in a vegetable soup. If you want to add fish to the soup, that will give you an even more nutritious and delicious.soup. The kombu can be used in other side dishes as well.
Dr. Oz and his guest didn’t give much information, but it was a good beginning. The doctor seems to be expanding his horizons and sharing more information with his audience that will benefit their health and well-being. The Asian food scene is rich in history and tradition. It is one of the healthiest cuisines in the world. It deserves a place in your menu on a daily or weekly basis.
