USING NORI doesn't need to be complicated, but the opportunities to incorporate it into different Japanese, Western or other dishes is enormous
Nori in Japan is part of breakfast, lunch, dinner or just used for snacking. The small sheets of Ajitsuke (seasoned) nori are a favourite side dish and healthy snack alternative.
Flaked or crumbled nori can quite simply be used as a topping for noodles, pasta, rice or even potatoes, with or without other toppings.
We've put some ideas and favourites on this page and we welcome ideas and recipes from visitors!
FUTO MAKI ROLLS, known as 'Big Mouth Rolls' due to being about three times bigger than maki rolls, are filled with three to six different fillings, plus sushi rice, but there are no hard and fast rules
Put a sheet of nori on a bamboo mat. Spread 1 cup of sushi rice on top of the nori. Place ingredients lengthwise on the rice. Favourites include crab, avocado, cucumber, omelete, but you can use almost anything.
Roll up the bamboo mat, pressing forward to shape the sushi into a cylinder. Press the bamboo mat firmly and remove from the sushi. Leave the roll to rest for a couple of minutes and then cut it into bite-size pieces.
TEMAKI is sometimes called hand rolled sushi and once again you can be as creative as you wish. Whether using seafood, meat or just vegetables, you can be as traditional or inventive as you like.
Temaki uses a single or half a sheet of yaki nori. No bamboo sheet is needed. Spread about a quarter of a cup of rice on the bottom half of the nori . If you like spread a small amount of wasabi diagonally over rice.
Next arrange filings like snow peas, pepper strips, avocado, tuna or chicken over the wasabi. Lift the lower corner of nori over vegetable mixture, pressing carefully and then wrap top half of nori over the filing mixture, pressing carefully to form a cone shape.
NORI & ITALIAN FOOD is a natural combination. Good Italian and Japanese foods have the shared values of freshness, seasonality and simplicity, and many dishes really benefit from using nori as an ingredient or garnish.
Our personal favourites include using crumbled nori on fresh pasta dishes, especially (but not limited to) seafood dishes. For the simplest of light lunches just cook fresh pasta and add virgin olive oil, fresh black pepper and seasoned nori, especially Mentaiko.
Freshly baked pizzas of all kinds taste great with crumbled nori as a finishing touch once taken out of the oven.
RICE & NOODLES are made for nori. As well as the use of nori and rice in sushi, nori can be a topping for boiled rice. If making paella or rissotto, a garnish of seasoned nori adds to the appearance and taste of the dish.
There are many recipes for the Yaki Soba fried noodles now popular all over the world.
We like them served with fried ground pork, beansprouts, topped with nori, but you can simply fry noodles with soy sauce and mirin (rice vinegar or sherry). Given the chance we like to add a little sesame oil and wasabi, topped with nori (shibazuke - pickled eggplant flavour?)
GO & EXPLORE, because there are no limits to how you can use nori.
We believe that nori is great for traditional and modern cooking, both Japanese and international. The Americans were some of the first to make it their own with Californian Rolls, have a look at Hawiann Spam Musubi for a truly strange national use of nori.
Why not try topping your baked potato with tuna and nori, yorkshire puddings with teriyaki beef and nori, summer pasta or noodle salads with chicken, sweetcorn and nori... Remember, nori is almost calorie free, full of vitamins, minerals and fibre!
