Water Celery Ohitashi

Presented in the style of Japanese greens, pungent steamed water dropwort stems are crunchy, chewy, and reminiscent of celery and chrysanthemum. The sauce is not traditional, but tart-hot-sweet and gingery. Serve as a side to seafood and rice, or as a first course, plain or embellished with small shrimp. If hot sesame oil is not in your pantry, add a few dashes of chilli oil to Asian sesame oil.