Japanese Spinach with Sweet Sesame Seeds

SUBMITTED BY: NATTYFRED PHOTO BY: Underescher

"You will need a Japanese mortar and pestle (suribachi and surikogi) for this recipe, as the sweet flavor of the roasted sesame is most intense when ground. This can also be made with asparagus instead of spinach."

PREP TIME	5 Min
COOK TIME	2 Min
READY IN	7 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 6 servings

USMETRIC

About scaling and conversions

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
10 cups fresh spinach leaves
4 tablespoons black sesame seeds, toasted

READ REVIEWS (14)

DIRECTIONS

Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Add the spinach 3 to 4 cups at a time. Cook and stir to wilt, then add more spinach.
Grind the sesame seeds into fine crumbs using a mortar and pestle. When spinach is wilted, move it to the sides of the pan and sprinkle sugar in the center. When the sugar melts, stir in the spinach to coat.
Transfer spinach to a serving plate and sprinkle ground sesame seeds on top.

To toast sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread sesame seeds on a dry baking sheet. Toast in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until fragrant.

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REVIEWS

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Reviewed on Aug. 10, 2006 by KymInNM

I'm sorry to say this was disappointing. It sounded delicious, but it ended up lacking flavor. For me, the sweetness just didn't go well with the spinach; it needed some saltiness, such as soy sauce, to balance it out. Plus, cooking the spinach in sesame oil seems to be a waste, because I couldn't taste it. I think it would work better to wilt the spinach in a dry skillet and add the sesame oil at the end for flavoring. Unfortunately, even the ground sesame seeds didn't work well: They ended up getting soggy sitting on the sauteed spinach. My boyfriend, who loves spinach, didn't care for this, either. I think this might be better, with some modifications, either baked or as a salad. Thanks anyway.

3 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Jan. 30, 2007 by Trojan Polo

Easy, and very tasty. I had trouble with the sugar - it didn't melt until I mixed it in with the spinach. Had I known that I wouldn't have let the spinach wilt any further while I tried to melt the sugar.

2 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Jan. 25, 2007 by LINDA MCLEAN

I honestly don't even know how to rate this because while reading the recipe, I loved the whole sesame oil and seed thing; however, the sugar totally turned me off and I knew that my family would not be pleased with sweet spinach. I replaced the sugar with soy sauce and added garlic and onion powders and black pepper. With these changes we all thought it was a fantastic side. Thank you for a great starting point!

2 users found this review helpful

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