00:04Hello everyone it's Yuto from sudachirecipes.com and today I'm gonna show you how to make a simple
00:10and delicious Japanese sesame spinach salad we call Horenso no Komae. This recipe only takes
00:16about 15 minutes or less and serves about 3 to 4 people. So first take saucepan of water and start
00:25heating it. This should be enough to cover the spinach while we're waiting for that we can prepare
00:31the spinach. First I'm gonna cut off the bottom of the stems that holds them together. Spinach in
00:39Japan is always sold like this with the leaves and stems intact. It also has quite a lot of mud
00:47and
00:47sand on the surface so cutting off the ends allows us to clean it more thoroughly.
01:09Next take a boil of cold water and place the spinach inside. Just rub the surface to loosen
01:15and remove the dirt. Once you're happy with them you can wash them under cold running water to remove
01:27any leftover dirt. Now I'm gonna divide the spinach into thirds. The thickest part is the bottom of
01:35the stem and this takes the longest to cook. Then the leaves at the top are thinner and cook the
01:41quickest.
01:45I also recommend tying them together like this. I'm using cooking strings which is 100% cotton and safe to
01:52use with food at high temperatures. Tying each part together makes the cooking process easier and more
01:59convenient. In hindsight I probably could have tied them together first and cut them after but it's up to you.
02:30Okay now let's cook. Place a bowl of cold water next to your stove ready for later. Once the water
02:36is boiling, add one teaspoon of salt.
02:40Now add the thick part of the stems first and boil them for a minute. I add each part of
02:47the spinach in
02:48order of thickness. This helps prevent raw stems and overcooked leaves. We can ensure every part of
02:55the spinach is perfectly cooked. Next we add the middle part and cook them together with the thick part for
03:0345 seconds. Finally add leaves and blanch them for just 30 seconds.
03:27After 30 seconds are up, use the tongs to transfer the spinach to the bowl of cold water. This will
03:33halt
03:34the cooking process and help maintain a good colour and texture in the spinach.
03:52While that's cooling, we can move on to the sauce. Take a large mixing bowl and add half a tablespoon
03:59of
03:59white toasted sesame seeds, half a tablespoon of dashi or water, two tablespoons of ground sesame seeds,
04:07a tablespoon of light brown sugar, half tablespoon of soy sauce and quarter teaspoon of salt.
04:15mix it all together until it becomes like a thick paste. Once it looks like this, we can add our
04:33spinach.
04:35The spinach has been sitting in the cold water so it's nice and chilled now. Squeeze out the water
04:41thoroughly and remove the string before adding it to the bowl.
04:55Squeezing the spinach is an important step because we don't want to make our sesame dressing too watery.
05:26mix it well until all of the spinach is coated in the sauce.
05:42mix it well.
05:43This looks good to me, so it's time to dish up.
05:47There you have it, Horenso no Gomae, a quick, easy and delicious dish that you can serve as a side
05:53or put in a bento box.
05:56Thanks so much for watching. If you enjoyed the video, I'd really appreciate it if you like it
06:01and subscribe to my channel for more tasty Japanese recipes. Thanks again, hope to see you next time.
06:06We'll see you next time.
06:07Let's see you next time.
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