If you’re looking to include more sea vegetables into your diet, you’ll want to give hijiki a try. Resembling dried tea leaves but longer, hijiki is a type of wild sea vegetable that grows on rocky coastlines around Japan, Korea, and China. It has a sweet, clean taste and mushroom-like quality. In Japan, we often enjoy it as hijiki no nimono (ひじきの煮物), which translates to “simmered hijiki.” It is technically a cooked dish, but you’ll find it called Hijiki Seaweed Salad at Japanese restaurants in the US.
What is Hijiki Seaweed?
Hijiki seaweed is naturally green or brown in color when it’s hand-harvested by fishermen and divers in the wild. Before it’s packaged, hijiki is boiled and then dried, and this process turns hijiki black. You will need to rehydrate it by soaking it in the water prior to cooking. Like other edible sea vegetables, hijiki is known for its dietary fiber and essential minerals like iron, calcium, and magnesium. After it’s cooked, it has a pleasant crunch and chewy bite. The taste is more earthy rather than oceany. The Japanese have been enjoying this traditional food as a part of a balanced diet for centuries.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Great textures and flavors: It’s savory, sweet, and pleasantly crunchy Versatile: Serve this side dish in a Japanese dinner, lunch menu set, or bento box Meal-prep and freezer friendly: Make a big batch to enjoy throughout the week! It keeps in the fridge for 3–4 days or in the freezer for up to a month Packed with nutrients: Full of dietary fiber and minerals
Ingredients for Hijiki Seaweed Salad
You can leave out the optional ingredients, but hijiki salad always includes aburaage and edamame.
dried hijiki seaweed – find it at Japanese supermarkets, Asian grocery stores, natural food stores, or online aburaage (fried tofu pouch) – adds protein and a lot of flavor carrot – adds color and nutrition edamame (young soybeans) – provides plant-based protein and a satisfying bite lotus root (renkon) – optional, but it adds a nice crunchy texture konnyaku (konjac) – optional; a jelly-like plant food unique to Japanese cuisine that’s very low in calories and high in fiber dashi – use homemade dashi, a dashi packet, or Vegan Dashi for vegan/vegetarian seasonings – soy sauce, mirin, and sugar
How to Make the Best Hijiki Seaweed Salad
There are various ways to prepare hijiki no nimono, but I really love my mom’s version. This is very close to how she cooks the dish.
Cooking Tips
Season generously – When a dish is eaten at room temperature, you want to be generous with the seasonings so the flavors come through. Do not cut down on the sugar as we use it to balance the salt and enhance the overall taste. Don’t skip the fried tofu pouch – The sponge-like texture of the aburaage gives great depth, mouthfeel, and flavor to the dish, so don’t skip it. Make a big batch – Simmered hijiki is exactly the kind of dish that Japanese home cooks include in their meal prep. It keeps well and can easily enjoy throughout the week. You can mix it with white steamed rice to make Maze Gohan (Mixed Rice), add on top of soba noodles, or use it to make rice balls.
What to Serve with Hijiki Seaweed Salad
With contrasting textures and a concentrated sweet-savory flavor, Hijiki Seaweed Salad makes a truly unique Japanese dish that highlights the beauty of sea vegetables. I hope you enjoy it. Try serving Hijiki Seaweed Salad with Grilled Mackerel, Japanese Spinach Salad with Sesame Dressing, White Steamed Rice, (Takikomi Gohan), and Miso Soup for a Japanese-style ichiju sansai meal.
Popular Similar Dishes
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