Simple Seaweed Recipes

Caroline Davey, forager and founder of Fat Hen, shares two of her favourite seaweed recipes with us. 


Caroline Davey founded the Fat Hen wild foraging and cookery school in West Penwith over fourteen years ago, inspired by her two great loves: nature and food. She runs hands-on courses for anyone interested in discovering the bounty in nature and deepening their connection with the food they eat. 

We’re sharing two of her easy seaweed recipes. Seaweed is one of the easiest wild foods to gather and cook, so if you’re new to foraging, it’s a great place to start.

Crispy Laver Seaweed

 

  1. Carefully wash and dab dry about five decent sized pieces of laver per person. 
  2. Heat (to about 180C) enough oil to deep fry the laver. 
  3. Add the laver in batches and fry until crisp (generally when it stops bubbling). Beware as it can spit quite a lot.
  4. Move and drain well on absorbent paper. 
  5. Season with flaked sea salt and your favourite chilli flakes. My favourite at the moment is marash from Turkey. 

Sesame Crusted Tofu with Noodles, Seaweed and Sea Beet

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 250g plain tofu 
  • 1 packet of udon noodles (cook as instructed on the packet) 
  • Large handful of laver seaweed (or other seaweed) 
  • 200ml rice wine vinegar 
  • 200ml water 
  • Large handful of sea beet 

For the marinade

  • 4 tbsp shoyu 
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup 
  • 2 garlic cloves, grated 
  • 2 tbsp three cornered leek, sliced 
  • Thumb sized piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
  • Red chilli, deseeded and chopped 

For the sesame crust 

  • 50g cornflour 
  • 3 tbsps white sesame seeds 
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes 
  • Sunflower oil for shallow frying

For the dressing

  • 2 tbsps soy sauce 
  • 2 tbsps maple syrup 
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 
  • 1 tbsp mirin 
  • 1 tbsp sweet white miso 
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil 

Method

  1. Place the laver seaweed into a bowl with rice wine vinegar and water and leave to pickle for an hour or two. 
  2. Slice the tofu horizontally, then cut diagonally into eight triangles. Place the tofu in a shallow dish. 
  3. Mix the marinade and pour over the tofu. Leave the tofu to marinate for at least an hour, turning the tofu halfway through so that it marinates evenly. 
  4. Make the dressing by mixing all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl and whisk to combine thoroughly. 
  5. Mix the tofu crust ingredients. Take the tofu pieces one at a time and dip into the mix so that the crust sticks to all sides. Shallow fry the tofu until crisp. Set aside. 
  6. Strain the marinade and keep to pour over the noodles with the dressing.
  7. While the tofu is cooking bring two large pans of water to the boil. Salt the water and add the sea beet to one and the noodles to the other. Cook for a few minutes until both are soft. 
  8. Strain the noodles; add a drizzle of sesame oil to stop the noodles sticking. Mix through the noodles.
  9. Pour the miso dressing onto the noodles and mix together until all the noodles are coated. Strain the laver seaweed from the pickling liquid and add to the noodles. Mix to combine. 
  10. Place some noodles and seaweed into a bowl. Place some of the cooked sea beet on top of the noodles, then add the tofu pieces on top. Pour over the remains of the marinade, then serve.

 

We hope you enjoy trying out these delicious recipes! Share what you make with #SeasaltNourish and mention us @SeasaltCornwall on Instagram or Facebook.