Spicy Nori Popcorn Seasoning - Recipe

Spicy nori furikake seasoning for popcorn

I apologize that it has been a little quiet here at the veg shed, and it probably will be hit and miss for the next few weeks, as family priorities and enjoying the summer take precedence over late night blogging sessions for a bit.

I think you'll enjoy this simple condiment for popcorn, whether you simply eat the heck out of it while watching Forbidden Planet or offering it on the side of a Japanese fusion veggie ceviche.

Technically what we are making here is a very simple furikake, a dry seasoning usually used on rice but actually delicious in many contexts. Gomashio is another example. A good Japanese grocer will sell many such blends, some vegetarian and others not. Making your own opens up a world of possibilities. Grinding the seasoning very finely allows it to adhere to the popcorn.

This will take you all of 5 minutes, you can pretty much knock it out while the corn finishes popping. After you've made it once you'll be easily able to adjust the salt/umami/heat ratio to your own preference.

Spicy Nori Popcorn Seasoning
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free
Makes enough for many, many servings of popcorn

• 2 sheets nori
• 1 dry chili pepper of your choice (morita is nice), seeds and ribs removed
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (fleur de sel is a good choice)

1. Hold a sheet of nori in a pair of tongs and toast lightly over an open medium flame, being careful not to set it on fire or burn your hands. Toast for maybe 20 seconds, moving it around to get the whole sheet. Repeat with the other sheet.
2. Do the same thing with the chili pepper.
3. Break up the nori and the chili pepper small enough to put into a spice grinder, add the salt, and whiz for a long time, until it is a completely fine powder. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
4. Sprinkle liberally on freshly popped corn, tossing to coat.

Interview with Mark Bitterman, Leading Expert on Culinary Salts

 
So many great finishing salts to try!

I've been fascinated with the wide variety of salts available for cooking and especially finishing your dishes for years. After I wrote about the importance of salt, I learned of The Meadow, a shop in Portland, Oregon that carries a large and beautifully curated selection. I visited their brick & mortar store a few months ago and came home with some incredible items.

The Meadow's owner is Mark Bitterman. He's not in this just to make a buck; he's insanely, utterly passionate about salt. I recently had the opportunity to interview him. If you find his thoughts interesting, you might like to pre-order his book, Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes, which will be out in the fall, and I highly recommend you pick up one or more of The Meadow's salts.

I think my current favorite is the Haleakala Ruby, which I brought to Salty Seattle's recent taste test, and I hear it won one of the best pairing categories! But it would be hard to pass up the Iburi Jio cherry-smoked salt from Japan or the Black Diamond. You can find them all on The Meadow's website.

Here is the interview with Mark Bitterman:

Me: You've had quite a varied career! How did you go from editing a journal on superconductivity to salt expert?

Mark B: It was the superconductivity effort that was a lark, not the salt. I've worked as a writer for much of my life, but I've been an avid traveler and eater since forever. I discovered salt when I first visited France about 25 years ago, motorcycling around the countryside and eating. I later lived in the south of France for a number of years restoring a chateau, and eating incredible food. Chefs would come visit and they'd actually bring their salt with them! I took note: salt was a core ingredient, an ingredient with place, purpose, and its own majesty.

Me: Other than flavored salts, do you find that different salts have a strongly different taste, or are the main differences in texture and color?

Mark B.: The most important thing to take into account when thinking about salt is that the flavor of the salt itself is not what matters. Nobody eats salt by itself. What matters is the interraction of the salt and the food. Three main things that determine how salt will play up the flavors of food are its crystal shape, its mineral content, and the residual moisture caught up in the crystals. Delicate moist clean flavored fleur de sel is the go-to salt for all the subtle to medium bodied and flavored foods, from buttered toast to steamed veggies to fish to caramels. Snappy bright flake salts are great for fresh vegetables and green salads, or anywhere that you want a spark of salt to contrast vibrantly with the food. Coarse minerally sel gris is the best salt for finishing red meats, root vegetables, and other heartier foods, and this is also your go-to salt for most cooking uses, from boiling pasta water to rubbing the cavity of a chicken before roasting.

Me: The Meadow has one of the most extensive and best documented collections of salts that I've seen. How do you go about finding new products?

Mark B.: We scour the earth, we read everything, we have friends and customers from all the corners of the globe that bring us stuff, and sometimes we just get lucky. But I'm always looking for salt, ALWAYS.

Me: What are the best uses for salts with very large flakes, like your Black Diamond?

Mark B.: Those hefty flakes salts are great for adding drama to a dish. Peas and flake salt give geometric electric pizzaz to the spherical sweet vegetables. Black Diamond salt is a great salt for sprinkling atop any pasta dish, risottos, polentas, on baked potatoes, grilled salmon and other fish. I make a pumpkin soup topped with toasted sesame seeds, guacamole, crème fraiche, and Dlack Diamond salt and it ROCKS.

(Me: Indeed it does! I hope you all enjoyed the interview with Mark and are motivated to try some new salts. They can really be an easy way to make your dishes sing. It takes only tiny amounts to finish a plate, so although you might think they sound a little pricey, you'll find that they last a long time.)

How to Plan a Vegetarian Meal by Answering Three Easy Questions

As a vegetarian, one of the things I hear all the time is "I'd like to eat less meat, but I just don't know how to plan a vegetarian meal". Without the familiar routine of building a plate with meat at the center, many perfectly competent cooks find themselves at a loss for how make a dinner that will be truly satisfying.

I've been a vegetarian and a serious cook for 25 years, so I've planned and prepared several thousand such meals. It may seem like it requires great creativity, but actually the secret couldn't be simpler. I'll show you how to do it by answering three easy questions. Better yet, you can start with any of the questions, and it will help inspire and narrow down answers to the others.

1. What grain or starch do I feel like eating?
2. What food culture am I in the mood for?
3. What's fresh?

Let's walk through these questions and with each one I'll share the simple thought processes that lead to a full vegetarian menu. At the end, I'll point out some pitfalls to avoid.

What grain do I feel like eating?

This might seem like a funny place to start, but actually I find that the grain or starch plays the same anchor role in a vegetarian meal that meat might play otherwise. For example, if I want rice then immediately I'm thinking: risotto, paella, curry, sushi, Mexican food, red beans and rice, ... we no longer have a blank sheet of paper. In fact it is an embarrassment of riches! Other grains are more tightly associated with a particular cuisine. If couscous is the foundation, then a Middle Eastern or North African meal is likely to be in the works.

Let's take a look at a couple of examples. In the first one, the grain (polenta) leads us to the culture (Italian), which in turn leads us to the side dishes. Seasonal fruits and vegetables help us fill in the blank canvas. In the second case, the grain (farro) is paired with seasonal ingredients (chanterelles and apples) in a modern American style, that gives us a rather free hand to choose a simple salad and dessert.

A Meal Based on Polenta

I'm absolutely mad for polenta, the Italian staple of cornmeal cooked until soft and dosed with a healthy amount of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Polenta is a pretty neutral base that can take many of the same accompaniments as pasta. In this case I was serving it in late fall, when hearty greens like chard are very good (question #3). Keeping with the Italian theme, I chose gorgonzola dolce (a mild blue cheese that willingly yields into the surface of the polenta), and garnished the bowl with a drizzle of top-notch balsamic vinegar.

For a simple family meal, I would just serve this with a preface of a simple green salad with a tangy dressing or some sauteed green beans with lemon zest. To make it into a dinner party, we could start with vegetarian minestrone or grilled eggplant with a spicy fresh tomato salsa, and serve a crostata for dessert, using whatever fruit is in season - or that we've frozen from the summer.

(Did you know polenta is also popular in Argentina? Here's a riff on serving it in a South American dish, with chimichurri).

And Another Based on Farro

It was a chilly, rainy fall day in Seattle, so a hearty, warming grain like farro suited my mood. If you haven't worked with farro, you should definitely give it a try - it is healthy, has a nutty flavor and a satisfying but pleasant chew. You can find farro at any natural foods store or upscale market.

Apples and chanterelle mushrooms were both in season, answering question #3, and I realized that their natural sweetness when sauteed would complement the grain. I decided to splurge on a generous ration of butter and Calvados (apple brandy) just to make sure the farro wasn't too healthy.

This dish seems more Pacific Northwest than European. I would probably serve it with a first course of arugula or another peppery green with shards of parmesan, and finish with just some ripe figs for dessert. Well, maybe I'd break out the blowtorch.

What food culture am I in the mood for?

The biggest mistake that Western cooks make when they aim for a meatless meal is to try and convert down-home Americana to be vegetarian. There are some ideas there, but they tend to run out pretty fast or lead to clumsy substitutions for meat. If you look to other countries you'll find a bounty of choices. Just about every culture in the world has a variety of dishes that are either inherently vegetarian or easily modified.

I don't know about you, but my cravings are often pretty culturally specific. If I go more than a couple weeks without Thai food, my fingers start to twitch uncontrollably. Sometimes nothing is going to do but a big plate of refried beans and rice with a cheesy enchilada or chili relleno. Or maybe it is an Italian feast that you ardently desire. Wherever it is, odds are there are dishes and flavor combinations just waiting for you.

A Blowout Mexican Feast

For an example, let's go for a killer Mexican dinner. We'll actually have two grains here: rice, and corn tortillas. Although tacos are mainly street food in Mexico, they are fantastic for an informal dinner party.

The formula for great vegetarian tacos is pretty simple: start with a substantial base, like winter squash or grilled tofu, add sauteed vegetables, cheese or crema, and a bright and spicy fresh salsa or slaw. Here are three options: achiote-rubbed butternut squash tacos, roasted potato and asparagus tacos with a kohlrabi slaw, and grilled tofu and bell pepper tacos with grilled pineapple salsa.

Now let's go for broke. You obviously don't have to make all of these dishes, just choose the ones that you have time for: refried beans, green rice or red rice, homemade salsa and ridiculously good guacamole, maybe a quick jicama salad with orange and radish. Take it over the top with a traditional burnt sugar flan.

Want to make this a whole lot simpler? Skip the tacos, and just serve rice and beans, salsa from a jar, guacamole and grated cheese for a healthy weekday menu.

These Swiss chard, onion and Monterey Jack enchiladas would be another fine option instead of the tacos. They are good for a crowd because they finish in the oven, so there is less to fuss with at the last minute. Any or all of the same side dishes would be perfectly welcome.

What's fresh?

The past few years have seen a tremendous change in our understanding of seasonality and local produce. Most of us know now that asparagus is fresh in the spring, and peaches in the dead of winter are probably going to be... dead.

As you become a more confident cook, you can start by buying the vegetables that look beautiful at the farmer's market or grocery, knowing that you can turn them into a coherent meal. The huge bonus is that by starting with the freshest, tastiest produce you can lay your hands on, you won't have to do much to make a delicious meal.

Some vegetables, like eggplant, can go anywhere from India to Italy and back, while others will narrow your focus considerably. Fresh bamboo shoots are probably going to enjoy a visit to China more than, say, New Mexico.

Quinoa Cakes and a Dinner of Homefries

As an example of cooking based around what is fresh, let me refer you directly to these quinoa cakes, served with a veritable riot of fresh produce from the farmer's market: caramelized zucchini, corn relish, and a cucumber and tomato salad. That is a whole meal in a bowl.

For an even simpler dinner, what do you do at the end of August when your backyard is full of homegrown potatoes, the tomatoes are at their peak, and a co-worker brings you eggs laid that morning? You make crispy homefries of course, using the potatoes instead of a grain as the starchy base. The cultural frame here is pure Americana.

What can go wrong?

Once you've started to master vegetarian dishes from around the world, you can go overboard and start mixing and matching too much. Risotto is great and green curry is great, but if you are going to try and serve them in the same meal, you are risking a grave battle on your palate. I'm not saying fusion menus can never work, but I wouldn't go there on a first date unless you are quite sure you know what you are doing!

Also, it can be easy to get in a rut. Once you've mastered, say, polenta, you can find yourself serving basically the same dish over and over again. The cure is simple: keep using it, but search the web or look through cookbooks to find variations.

For example, the basic polenta dish above could be made with green beans or eggplant instead of chard, and you could use a young pecorino instead of the gorgonzola. Or polenta can be allowed to cool and then baked or pan-fried and served with tomato sauce. It could be served with a rich ragout of wild mushrooms, topped with a poached egg, or hit with a generous dose of fresh pesto at the peak of basil season. Keep mixing it up and you'll never grow bored.

Summary

Planning vegetarian meals doesn't have to be any more difficult than meat-centered meals. By following these three simple rules (learn to focus on the grain instead of the meat, look to cultures around the world for ideas, and cook with the best, freshest ingredients you can find), you will discover a universe of options. Take a look around Herbivoracious for more inspiration, and let me know your best vegetarian meal planning tips!