Spinach is one of a popular ingredients in my kitchen. It’s quick to cook and add great vibrant color to the dish. Tastes great and has tons of nutrients as well.
I will show you 2 simple spinach dishes here: one is simple blanched spinach with a dash of soy sauce, and the other is slightly sweet sesame & soy sauce flavor. Cooking time is very short to keep the freshness of spinach. Just dunk in a boiling water for less than a minute and done! By blanching it, you can see how one fat bunch of spinach became very thin log.
This is a great way to add more vegetables in your meals. Personally, this is my favorite way of eating spinach. You can prepare the spinach this way and save in the fridge for a few days before you decide how you eat it.
Ingredients:
- Spinach 1/2 bunch
For Sesame Spinach - Roasted white sesame 1 tsp
- Soy sauce 1 tsp
- Agave or sugar 1 tsp
Directions:
- Boil water in a pot.
- Wash spinach well in a large bowl, leave in the water for a little to let the dirt sink in the bottom.
- If your spinach has the red part and root (which is preferred), just cut off the root and leave the red part intact.
- Drain the spinach and put it together in same direction.
- Hold the leaf part, dip the bottom in the boiling water and count 20, then put whole leaves in the pot. Turn off the heat.
- Drain the spinach under cold running water.
- Squeeze out water and cut in bite size.
- You can then eat with a dash of soy sauce, topped with dried bonito flakes if you have.
- Or, mix with crushed sesame seeds, soy sauce, and agave or sugar.
Tips:
- You can use mortar and pestle to crush the sesame, or put in a plastic bag and roll with a rolling pin. I used a small Japanese ceramic mortar bowl and wood pestle (suribachi and surikogi).
- For the maximum sesame flavor, you can lightly roast the sesame seeds before use. Put sesame seeds in frying pan without oil, and shake it on the medium heat until it become aromatic.