Tokoroten

Seaweed boiled to a jelly, set, and pushed through a box to make noodles.

Vegan.

Ingredients

the jelly

• 40 g dried tengusa
• 1.2 litres water
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

to serve

• 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon karashi mustard

Method

1. PUSHED THROUGH A BOX, NOT CUT. A tentsuki is a wooden box with a wire grid at one end and a plunger at the other, and the jelly is extruded through it in one push to give square-sectioned noodles. Cut with a knife you get strips with a different mouthfeel entirely -- the extruded surface is what makes them slippery.
2. A coarse grater or a wide-holed potato ricer is the nearest substitute.
3. Rinse the tengusa thoroughly and soak it 30 minutes. It is collected from the sea and carries shell and sand.
4. Boil it in the water with the tablespoon of vinegar, uncovered, 45 minutes to 1 hour. THE VINEGAR IS WHAT DRAWS THE AGAR OUT -- without it the extraction is poor and the jelly never sets firm.
5. The liquid reduces by about a third and goes faintly viscous. Strain it through a cloth while hot and do not squeeze -- squeezing clouds it.
6. Pour into a shallow tray to 4 cm deep.
7. SET AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, which agar does, and it needs no fridge. Chilling it fast makes it brittle and it shatters in the extruder. About 1 hour.
8. Turn the block out and cut it to fit the box.
9. Push through in ONE steady movement. Hesitate and the noodles break into short lengths.
10. Mix the vinegar, soy and sugar and pour over. Sesame and a dab of karashi on top. Serve very cold.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Japan · All recipes