Can someone please tell me what the hell I am eating???

[reedmangler]

One of my students gave me this and I can't stop eating it. There is no English anywhere on the bag, but it is clearly seaweed of some sort, with sesame seeds & oil and sugar. It is PHENOMENAL. Please help me so I can buy about a case of it.

[alkapal]

could you make your own with toasting nori and then brushing it with toasted sesame oil (and maybe sesame seeds) and then crumbling it? would you somehow slice the nori first, then toast?

[Val]

hee hee...Mark Bittman has a method for making nori crisps...haven't tried it but heck, he just cracks me up...well, and he was wrong on his prediction, LOL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjX_Tn...

[goodhealthgourmet]

i do it all the time. and fortunately since i have a gas cook top, i actually just pass the sheet over a low flame a few times - works like a charm!

but if that's not an option, a few minutes on a sheet tray in the oven (or toaster oven) does the trick.

[Val]

Do you add sesame oil at all? Bittman uses water to adhere the salt but seems like sesame oil would be better. I only have an electric stove and find the roasted nori sheets pretty tasty on their own (okay, not as crispy at the Tao Kae Noi chips that have the palm oil) but still, they are good.

[alkapal]

i could eat toasted sesame oil on cardboard and most likely be happy! ;-). i love it with a simple cucumber salad (with rice vinegar, and maybe a touch of sugar).

val, you're getting lots of local cukes coming in now? what about tomatoes?

ooh, i'd bet that this nori concoction would be good on a fresh tomato salad.

[Val]

oooh...aaaah! Yes, cukes were 4 for $1.00 at the farmer's market this morning...'maters also were grand! AND, Drat...I have 2 tomato plants that LOOK lovely out front, flowering, little bees buzzing and doin' their thing... but NO FRUIT! horrid! Mother Nature being mean to Val right now...<pouting>

[goodhealthgourmet]

it depends - if i'm using seeds i don't bother with the oil because the seeds have enough flavor, so i just brush them with water. if i'm not adding seeds, i brush them with toasted sesame oil (and sometimes add a pinch of chile).

[Val]

thanks, ghg! good to know!

[Val]

yay, another seaweed eater! lol...I've had the Sea's Gift too but it's a little pricey at $1.00 per individual serving...there's another really good Korean brand sold at my Asian market here in Naples but the #2 ingredient is palm oil, not the healthiest, but that stuff is so crunchy & a little salty and somewhat like potato chips. Anymore, I just have a sheet of roasted nori most afternoons as a snack.

[Full tummy]

How much is that like the Korean seaweed sheets toasted with sesame oil and salt that I use to eat with rice and gochujang sauce--as I was taught by a Korean housemate some years back?

[link_930]

Korean shredded seaweed (the label reads hoon bee nae ja ban).

[alkapal]

link, is it used for things other than just snacking out of hand?

[link_930]

I've sprinkled it on top of simple ingredients/dishes to enhance: rice, a sunny side up fried egg, radish soup, mung bean sprout soup, steamed tofu, etc. Kind of like the Japanese version furikake I suppose.

[alkapal]

ok, thanks. i'll seek it out.

[MandalayVA]

It may not be that particular brand but this mix seems to be pretty popular. A company called Sea's Gift makes it, you can find it at Whole Foods. Or you could, of course, ask your student. ;)

[goodhealthgourmet]

that looks more like clumps of nori, whereas the Sea's Gift comes in small individual sheets. but yes, it does look like basically the same thing in a different form - seasoned, toasted nori.

note to the OP, if you really want to save yourself a lot of money, you can buy some nori at your local Asian grocer and make it yourself!

barring that, all Asian markets carry some variation of it. or here's the link om Amazon for the Sea's Gift product:
http://tiny.cc/622zj

if you scroll down the page, you can also check out the links for similar items.