Traditional Sesame Dressing – Goma-ae (ごまあえ)

Goma-ae is a very popular side dish in served in Japan. (Goma translates as sesame and ae translates as sauce) The dish consists of some type of blanched vegetable seasoned with a sesame paste. You most often see it served as a little lump of spinach in a bento, but you can serve this dressing with any vegetable. (though I would recommend a green variety) This sauce is easy to prepare, and the nutty flavor of the sesame is a wonderful addition to a dish.

To really bring out the flavor of the sauce, I recommend toasting the seeds beforehand and grinding the seeds with a mortar and pestle. If you can’t toast or grind them, that’s ok. The sauce is still good without it, but those little steps really enhance the sesame taste, so if you are going to make this sauce on a regular basis I urge you to go out and buy a cheap grinding set, you won’t regret it!

Recipe – Traditional Sesame Dressing:

– Heat a small pan on the stove on medium high heat. Once hot, add the sesame seeds and toast for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring the seeds every so often so they brown evenly. Once they get really hot they might start popping, so keep an eye on them!

– When the seeds are golden colored and fragrant, remove from heat and transfer them to a mortar and pestle.

– Grind the seeds while they are still warm in the mortar and pestle. The seeds won’t turn into a fine powder, but they will crack open, bringing out the flavor inside the seeds.

– Once the seeds are ground, add the sugar and soy sauce and mix well. Use this sauce with spinach, broccoli, asparagus, or get creative!