37 articles
A cook's guide to arame and hijiki: what they are, how to prep and simmer them, classic recipes, and an honest look at the hijiki arsenic debate.
Sofia Andersson ·
Arame is mild, sweet and cooks in minutes. Learn to sauté it with roots, simmer it with tofu and fold it into rice — plus soaking and seasoning rules.
Sofia Andersson ·
Decode the furikake label, master the nori-sesame formula in grams and percentages, and judge any shop blend — three variations included.
Sofia Andersson ·
Gomashio is Japan's two-ingredient sesame salt, transformed entirely by careful toasting. Ratios, technique, three modern seaweed variations, and storage.
Sofia Andersson ·
Food agencies in the UK, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong advise against eating hijiki. Here's how to read that guidance — and what to cook instead.
Sofia Andersson ·
Hijiki no nimono done properly — the classic soy braise, a crumbled tofu version and a modern grain bowl. Includes honest arsenic context and the arame swap.
Sofia Andersson ·
How to cure white fish between sheets of kombu: the umami science behind kobujime, fish and kelp choices, timing, serving, and honest food-safety notes.
Sofia Andersson ·
A working guide to kombu-cured fish: cure times by species and thickness, flavour variations, cooked kobujime dishes, troubleshooting and food-safety basics.
Sofia Andersson ·
Adapt kobujime — the Japanese kombu-curing technique — to vegetables: which vegetables work, timings by density, and how kelp firms and seasons produce.
Sofia Andersson ·
Two fridge staples do the heavy lifting in a seaweed kitchen: kombu dashi dressings and shio koji marinades. Ratios, recipes, variations and fridge life.
Sofia Andersson ·
Tsukudani turns the kombu left in your dashi pot into a glossy, sweet-savoury relish for rice. Recipes, ratios, storage and why nothing leaves the kitchen.
Sofia Andersson ·
Cut wakame is the default for miso soup, but kombu, nori, sea lettuce and other seaweeds all have roles. Ratios, timing rules and what to skip.
Sofia Andersson ·
Niban dashi is the second extraction from spent kombu and katsuobushi — milder, deeper, and made for miso soup and simmered dishes. How to brew and use it.
Sofia Andersson ·
How to toast nori over flame to revive aroma and crunch: the yaki-nori technique, gas-electric-electric hob workarounds, safety, and when to leave the sheet raw.
Sofia Andersson ·
How to make onigiri: the right rice, salting by hand, classic fillings, nori-wrapping techniques and how to pack them so the seaweed stays crisp.
Sofia Andersson ·
A technique deep-dive for onigiri that hold together: nori grades and moisture, four wrap styles, batch freezing, and fixes for every common failure.
Sofia Andersson ·
Build a fully vegan Japanese pantry around dashi: what to stock, a homemade instant dashi powder, label traps to avoid, and a week of plant-based broth cooking.
Sofia Andersson ·
How to make seaweed gomasio — toasted sesame ground with kombu and nori — with the classic ratio, toasting technique, variations and everyday uses.
Sofia Andersson ·
Build a deeply savoury seaweed ramen from scratch — kombu-forward broths, kombu tare, topping strategy, and which seaweeds earn a place in the bowl.
Sofia Andersson ·
When to cold-soak kombu and when to toast it — exact times, temperatures and flavour outcomes, plus what each method does to texture and iodine.
Sofia Andersson ·
Sunomono is a ten-minute wakame and cucumber salad — and a masterclass in the vinegar dressings of Japanese cooking. Ratios, technique, variations.
Sofia Andersson ·
Takikomi gohan is Japan's seasoned rice — dashi-soaked grains cooked with vegetables, mushrooms and seaweed. Recipes, seasonal variations and rice cooker tips.
Sofia Andersson ·
How to make vegetarian dashi from kombu and dried shiitake: cold-brew and hot methods, the glutamate-guanylate synergy, and what to cook with it.
Sofia Andersson ·
Go beyond the basic wakame cucumber salad: the sunomono ratio to memorise, salting science, seasonal variations, and how to turn it into a main-course salad.
Sofia Andersson ·
Wakame, kombu and nori do three different jobs in the kitchen. Flavour, texture, buying forms, substitutions and storage, side by side.
Sofia Andersson ·
Cold wakame soba salad in twenty minutes: silky rehydrated wakame, sesame-soy dressing and crunchy vegetables, plus make-ahead and lunchbox tips.
Sofia Andersson ·
Wakame sunomono with salted cucumber: the classic Japanese seaweed salad, with ratios, a ten-minute method, slice-by-slice technique tips and variations.
Sofia Andersson ·
Furikake turns plain rice into a meal in one shake. Make your own seaweed furikake from nori, kombu or wakame — with recipes, ratios and storage tips.
Sofia Andersson ·
Nori isn't just for sushi. Ten everyday uses for toasted nori sheets — from onigiri and furikake to butter, broth and cracking snack sheets.
Sofia Andersson ·
Vegan dashi from kombu and dried shiitake delivers deep, clean umami without fish. Ratios, soaking times, steeping temperatures and how to use it everywhere.
Sofia Andersson ·
How to make genuinely good miso soup at home: dashi fundamentals, when to add wakame, the one boiling rule, and why the miso goes in off the heat.
Sofia Andersson ·
Make wakame seaweed salad the proper way: rehydrate, blanch to jade green, dress with sesame and rice vinegar. Recipe, technique and sourcing.
Sofia Andersson ·
Build shabu-shabu on a proper kombu dashi and the broth does half the cooking. Ingredients, timing, dipping sauces — plus what to do with the spent kombu.
Sofia Andersson ·
A deep, technique-first guide to kombu dashi: glutamate science, exact temperatures, ichiban and niban infusions, and how to fix every common mistake.
Sofia Andersson ·
A practical guide to seaweed tempura — the batter science, the right oil temperature, and three seaweeds that fry to a shatteringly crisp finish in under two minutes.
Sofia Andersson ·
Master agar-agar, the seaweed gelatin: ratios, why it sets at room temperature, how it outsets gelatin, and recipes from anmitsu to vegan panna cotta.
Sofia Andersson ·
Shio kombu is Japan's salty-sweet shredded kombu condiment. Learn what it is, how to make it from scratch, and ten ways to use it beyond rice.
Sofia Andersson ·