Sea vegetables

The use of sea vegetables, or seaweeds, as foods was originally confined mostly to Oriental cookery. They have now, however, become acceptable in the West, and are gaining in popularity all the time. Depending on the variety, they can be grilled/broiled until crisp, cut and added to soups, stews and salads, stir-fried or cooked to soften and wrapped round moulds. They expand considerably when soaked, so only a little is needed. Varieties include: arame and hiziki (thin, shredded-looking variety used as vegetables in Japanese cooking); carrageen (a European variety that is cooked to eat like a vegetable); dulse (a coarse Northern variety which is usually sun-dried; it can be cooked like spinach); kombu (a Japanese kelp seaweed, with broad, blackish-grey ribbons; wakame (a long variety with thin ribbon-like strands, used in soups and salads) which is used to flavour the Japanese stock dashi, and can also be soaked and cut in strips for wrapping up pieces of raw fish to make sushi. It is also available shredded, in a ready-to-eat form as shiofuki).