Hourensou No Gomaae ~ Japanese Spinach Salad with Sesame Sauce

Hourensou no gomaae is Japanese spinach salad flavored with sesame sauce. Preparation of this salad is similar to Korean spinach salad that I prepared last year for Around the World in 30 days. I liked the Korean salad a lot and since the preparation is similar, included this spinach salad to my Japanese breakfast menu that I made for Buffet on Table.

Unlike the sauce for Korean salad, sauce for this salad has a soy sauce based dressing. Also for this sauce, sesame seeds are powdered and mixed into the sauce. This spinach salad makes an excellent side dish and is very nutritious.

Adapted: Japanese Cooking 101
Preparation: 15 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

8 oz / 225 grams Spinach (I used 90z/255gms baby spinach)
½ - 1 tsp. Salt
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
2 tsp. Sugar (I used only ¼ tsp. and skip it if you do not like sweet in your salads)
1 tbsp. Roasted Sesame Seeds, ground (I used 1 tbsp. powdered sesame seeds)
¼ - ½ tsp. Roasted Sesame seeds for garnish

Preparation:

Put water to boil in a 2 - 2 ½ quart sauce pan. Add salt.
While the water is boiling, powder roasted sesame seeds and add it to soy sauce. if using sugar, add it to soy sauce. Mix well to combine. Keep aside until spinach is ready.
Add spinach to boiling water and cook for 45 - 60 seconds. Do not over cook spinach. My spinach was slightly overcooked.
Pour the water & spinach into a colander and run under cold water to cool the spinach.
When spinach comes to room temperature, squeeze excess water from the spinach.
Take spinach in a serving bowl, pour sauce and toss. Sprinkle sesame seeds to garnish the salad.
Serve it as a side dish for breakfast or with any meal.

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