Irish Sea Vegetables

delightful, unusual and tasty

Disclaimer! All recipes displayed below have been extracted from various sources and modified by staff of the Irish Seaweed Centre. We cooked our way through most of them!  The recipes are to aid persons unaware of how to use sea vegetables in their daily diet, and to enlighten the public on the varied tastes that come from Irish sea vegetables. 

Why use sea vegetables?  They are a rich source in essential vitamins and minerals, the iodine content of sea vegetable is great than that of land plants.  There have been many other health benefits ascribed to seavegetables, some scientifically proven and published in peer reviewed literature others as anecdotal information. Overall, sea vegetables have a proven record in healthy living.  Most of the recipes are oriental in origin however we have used traditional recipes in some cases and added sea vegetables to them, try it ! You might be surprised

Brown Soda Bread with Dillisk

226g White Flour
226g Coarse ground wholemeal Flour
113g Margarine
1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda
400mls Buttermilk
14g dried Dillisk , chop finely and soak in water for 5 mins  

Sieve the white flour, soda and salt into a bowl. Rub in margarine.  Add wholemaeal flour and finely chopped dillisk, pour in buttermilk mixing continually (this mixture is very moist).  Pour into an oiled lined 2lb loaf tin. Bake at 200ºC for 30-45 mins.  Cover if getting too brown. 

Sea Vegetable Salad Marinated Atlantic Wakame Salad (Salad dressing)

Excellent over hot rice or in a tossed green salad.  

15 grammes of dried wakame (1 cup)
4 tablespoons of soy sauce
¼ tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 garlic clove
½ tablespoon of crushed ginger  

Boil the wakame in four litres of water for twenty minutes. (Use the cooking water as a soup broth). After removing the cooked Atlantic wakame from the broth, cut it across the frond width into ½ cm strips, then into 2 cm long pieces. Mix the above marinade ingredients. A thinly sliced onion can substitute for the garlic. Add the chopped wakame and serve or marinate further in a fridge. It can be stored in a fridge for up to a week.

Roasting Nori

Roast Nori is a requirement in many dishes.  By roasting the chewy nori is tenderised and is easily crumbled into flakes or broken into small pieces. Roasted Nori has a distinctive toast odour and flavour.

To roast, place the desired amount of dry nori on an iron pan and place on a medium heat. Roasting should only take between 30 seconds and a minute during which the nori is turned by finger continually feeling for crispness.  As pieces become crisp remove them and they are now easily broken. Flakes of roast Nori can be stored in a container and used as a garnish or condiment on a wide range of main dishes and soups.

Sauteed cabbage with Nori  

1 cup roasted nori                                   
1-2 tablespoons cooking oil                              
optional: add to taste: onions, grated carrot, and/
or
¼ tablespoon roasted sesame oil.
1 mediul sized cabbage
 soy sauce

Chop the cabbage, and saute it with the roasted nori in oil until the cabbage is tender (takes about 5-10 mins). Other vegetables can be added at this stage. Season with soy sauce while cooking. Add ¼ tablespoon sesame oil before serving.

Baked Potato and Dillisk

4 large sized potatoes                  
I medium sized red onion                                      
butter (optional)
25g roasted Dillisk
Crème cheese

Bake the potatoes in a relatively hot oven.  Wash dillisk and cut into small fine strips fry on a hot pan with the finely chopped onion. Cut each baked potato in half, scoop out the potato from the half skins and combine with the butter and onion and dillisk and crème cheese -mashing all together. Return it to the half shell presenting it in mounds. Garnish with Sea-vegetable flakes.

Roasted Nori and Vegetable Fried Rice ( serves 8 ) 

Rice for 6 people 
2 chopped carrots
1 chopped onion
chopped up brocolli (quantitiy as required) 
25g of roast nori   
1-2 tb spoons soy sauce
2 tb spoons of olive oil                            
2 cloves of garlic
1 tb spoon crushed ginger
½ teaspoon roasted sesame seeds

 Cut all the vegetables up small and saute for 3 minutes in olive oil and roasted sesame oil. Add rice and roasted flaked nori and mix well. Next, add some soy sauce and saute on medium heat until very hot. Variations can include adding other vegetables including pre cooked potatoes, cabbage, green beans or whatever is handy or left over from dinner the night before!

Dillisk Broth/Nori Broth (serves 6-8 people)

4 litres of water
25g of lentils
3 medium chopped onions
2 stalks chopped celery
3 medium sized potatoes
15g of shredded dried dillisk or roasted nori (one cupfull)
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
1tsp mix herbs

Chop the onions, celery, dillisk or nori and sautée in light oil for 4-5 minutes. For a better taste use seaweed oil.    Mix the sauted vegetables with chopped potatoes, lentils, herbs  and cayenne pepper in 4 litres of water and cook for twenty minutes.
Two thirds of the broth can be removed temporarily, put in a blender, and returned to improve the smooth texture.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Atlantic Wakame Soup

4 litres of water
15g of dried Atlantic wakame (Alaria esculenta)
2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce or miso
2-3 cloves of garlic.
Shredded fresh ginger  

Boil Atlantic wakame in water for twenty minutes. Remove the wakame, cut it into small strips and return to the pot. Chop 2-3 cloves of garlic and/or shredded ginger can be added after ten minutes of boiling. Add soy sauce or miso before serving. Add pepper and salt to taste.  

Tastes good with a sprinkle of grated cheddar and a teaspoon of crème fresche. 

Jim's legendary Carrot and Dillisk Bread

25g Dillisk, soaked in fresh water for 5 mins
110g Melted Butter
1 Large Carrot Grate
4 Eggs
50g Caster Sugar
Pinch Of Salt
250g Plain Flour
1.5 tbs Baking Powder

Pre-heat oven, temp 140 ºC /274ºF
Take dillisk out of water and pat dry with a kitchen towel and chop finely.
Brush the inside of the loaf tin  with a little butter.
In a mixing bowl combine remaining butter, eggs, dillisk, carrots and salt.
Fold in sieved flour and baking powder
If the mixture is a bit dry add a little drop of milk.
Fill tin with mixture and bake for 40-50 mins.
Cool before turning out and slicing. Serve with some REAL butter.... and a bucket of tea!!

Laverbread (Nori or Sloke)

 This is a popular traditional Welsh and Scottish breakfast food.

Soak the dried laver for 1 minute in cold water and drain well. Fry the nori in the hot bacon fat. Sprinkle the oats on top. Fry both sides until done  (takes about 10 minutes). Season to taste and serve.

If fresh fronds are used, wash quickly in cold water and drain. To store, spread a piece of waxed paper and sprinkle the oats evenly on top. Place the moist laver over the oats and fold the edges of the paper up to form a package. The oats will adhere to the laver. Refrigerate until ready to fry in bacon fat.

Sweet Kombu with Soy Sauce and Honey (Laminaria saccharina)

 Sweet Kombu is a useful sea vegetable which can be added to almost anything that is boiled. Once boiled, kombu can be cut in thin strips and used in a variety of vegetable dishes.

15-30 grammes of Sweet kombu
1 litre of water
2 tb spoons honey
1 tea spoon oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 cloves crushed garlic

Boil Kombu in water for 10 minutes. Remove Kombu from the water. Saute garlic honey kombu and soy sauce in a wok (a frying pan is ok if you don't have a wok) for 10 minutes to blend flavours, adding up to one cup of kombu broth. Simmer with cover on wok to retain moisture during the final few minutes. Marinate in fridge for at least two hours.

Lemon and 1 tb spoon of crushed ginger can be added as a variation. And of course pepper and salt as required.

Sea Spaghetti and Spicey Garlic Tomato (Himanthalia elongata)

50g Dried Sea Spaghetti
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 large garlic cloves
6 medium sized mushrooms
1 medium sized onion
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp Chilli powder (or as required)

 Soak the sea spaghetti in fresh water for 10 minutes.  Finely chop onions and mushrooms, crush garlic cloves. Fry onions gently in oil (seaweed oil if available) and mushrooms fry gently.  Add spaghetti, garlic, tumeric and chilli powder when nearly cooked add tomato heat and simmer until ready to serve.  Add tomoto puree if required.  Flavour with pepper as necessary.  This is good served with baked potatoes.