Tasty and Healthy Seaweed Salad

As of late I have been incredibly obsessed with the tiny dish of seaweed salad that is often served as a 'starter dish' in Korean restaurants. Also known as Miyeok Muchim in Korean, I find that I often ask for a refill (or two) of this dish.  I love the salt and vinegar taste on the first bite, mixed with some sesame oil and a hint of sweetness that makes this dish taste so good! An added benefit to seaweed salad is that it is super healthy! If you eat it in moderation, you won't go too over on the calorie bank! 

So, in order to prevent myself from continually ordering refills of miyeok muchim in a Korean restaurant, I decided to make my own. There aren't too many ingredients and you can adjust it to your taste.

L to R (back row): untoasted sesame seeds, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, dried seaweed
(front row): sugar, finely diced garlic, salt

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dried seaweed
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (finely diced)
• 2-3 tsp sesame oil (to taste)
• 1-2 tbsp rice vinegar (add more as needed!)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• roasted white sesame seeds

Directions

1. Measure out 1 cup of dried seaweed. It looks like dried tea leaves at first! Soak the dried seaweed in a bowl of water for approximately 10 minutes. You will see the seaweed expand! 

2. Rinse the expanded seaweed in warm water. Then in cold water to bring it back to a nice green colour. 

3. Drain the water out of the seaweed by squeezing it gently. I also placed it into my salad spinner to get some more of the water out. 

4. Place your seaweed in a large bowl.

5. Finely chop 2-3 cloves of garlic. If you want your salad to be have intense garlic flavours (which is what I prefer) than chop up 3 cloves. Having a super sharp knife such as our recently purchased Yoshikane Santoku from Knifewear can make all the difference! 

6. In a separate bowl put in your chopped garlic, then the sesame oil, rice vinegar, salt, and sugar. Mix well and taste. Adjust the flavours as needed; adding more rice vinegar or sesame oil to your tastes. Sesame oil also helps to remove the briny or "fishy" taste that the seaweed sometime has.

7. Pour mixture over the seaweed. To get an even mixing, mix by hand. 

8. The seaweed salad is best eaten or served cold.

9. Sprinkle some roasted white sesame seeds on top of the salad before serving.You can purchase white sesame already roasted or to make your own toast half a cup of white sesame in the toaster oven for a few minutes on low. Watch it careful as it can burn easily.

10.   Enjoy! 

11. You can also add finely sliced cucumber, carrots, daikon, or even add a dash of red chili powder to make it spicy!

*Buying Notes* 

• You can purchase rice wine vinegar at any Chinese (T & T), Korean or Japanese store. 
• To find the dried seaweed I went to a Korean store. There are a few Korean stores in Edmonton that I frequent. Two of them are in Millwoods- Korean Central Market at 9271 34 Ave NW and Korean Japanese Food and Wares at 3116 Parsons Road NW. In the Donnan/Bonnie Doon area there is L & K Oriental Foods and Imports at 7743 85 St NW. 

Fine Dining for Less - Ernest's at NAIT

Back in August, we had the truly exciting opportunity to place a reservation for the dinner buffet at Ernest's. Ernest's is a dining room located within NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) where Hospitality and Culinary Students get to flex their culinary skills. We jumped at the chance when we found out they were offering the Dinner Student Showcase Buffet on Friday evenings until December 13, 2012 for around $25 (tax & tip included in calculations) . We managed to book a Friday evening at the end of October.

Ernest's is a unique dining experience as everyone working and serving is a culinary student. Each culinary student is placed in charge of a certain portion of the buffet - be it a hot dish, appetizer, cold dish, or dessert.

Upon arrival, our party of 6 couldn't help but take a look a careful look around at the delicious spread of food. There was a table filled with assorted breads and cheese, cold appetizers, salads, hot plates, and entire prime-rib under a heat lamp, and a mighty spread of desserts. Best of all, there was a culinary student frying risotto balls on demand. Take a look at the variety of food we had that night. 

Clockwise : a sprout salad, beet salad with mushrooms, triangular cold apps: terrine in red & green, potato cake with mango chutney,  combo of sausage and egg and a slice of bread. Savoury tart with Camembert in the centre.

This must be Dan's plate as it has braised beets!

more food: risotto ball in centre, crab leg, prime rib and a smoked salmon app.

As can be seen, the offerings for mains that night were quite varied. Regardless, it was evident that time and planning was spent on each dish. Admittedly, some dishes were more thought out then others. As beautiful and well seasoned a dish the crab was, many of us could not get to the meat of it. The prime rib was well seasoned and when sliced was perfectly medium-rare. Certainly, the hit of the night was the fried arancini stuffed with taleggio cheese. These were made right in front of you and as such super fresh! 

Fresh Arancini balls being placed into a pot of boiling oil - which acts like a small deep fryer.

Once the arancini balls are finished their time in the fryer, they are coated with a squirt of two or lemon juice. That way the porcini & sage oil that is tossed on next will keep the arancini balls tasting fresh.

The finished arancini stuffed with taleggio cheese

The dessert portion of the night. 

Passion fruit tarts topped with assorted fruits  and almond tart topped with a gooseberry.

Mini raspberry Marshmallow cones

freshly baked chocolate croissants

Freshly made banana fosters with an edible cup.

Pate de Fruit and assorted chocolates! White chocolate mojito filled truffles, Raspberry infused dark chocolates and more!

close-ups of more delicious chocolates

Passion fruit and chocolate ganache shooter cup.

Needless to say, as the pictures have done all the talking, the desserts were delectable! My favourites were the passion fruit tart and the chocolate croissant. Though, it would have been nice if the croissant was slightly smaller so we could eat more of the desserts! 

I highly recommend taking some time to dine at Ernest's. You get a great value for the price and you're supporting the Culinary Arts at NAIT! Who knows where these culinary students may end up! Your meal may cooked by a future up and coming chef.

When we were last dining at Ernest's for this meal, they had noted that there were a few tables left for their buffets until December 13. After December 13, they will be serving their a la carte menu for both lunch and dinner. However, do not fret if you were hoping to try out the buffet! There will be an opportunity again in the New Year! Look out for updates and details on their website! Checking regularly will definitely pay off!

Ernest's Dining Room

11762-106 St.

Edmonton, AB.

(780) 471-8676

ernests@nait.ca