Three Condiments For Rice

Japanese grocery stores stock a wonderful array of simple, intensely flavored condiments for rice. Aonori, for example, is small flakes of toasted seaweed (nori). There are also dried fish flakes and sticky rich-flavored relish-like pastes as well as toasted sesame seeds. Many of these condiments originated as a practical way of recycling leftovers. They keep well, but that’s rarely a problem, as they tend to get eaten quickly.