Sesame magic

Every Japanese household has suribachi - an earthenware mortar and a wooden pestle. I love the smell of roasted sesame when it’s grinded in an earthen mortar. Even though I didn’t like green vegetables much when I was young but I liked this salad. My grandmother called it “Sesame magic”. For my second visit at the Japanese grocer in Circular Quay, I bought my first suribachi and I still use it now. Suribachi is an essential utensil for Japanese cooking. It’s also pretty enough to serve at a dinner table.

Here is my sesame magic salad recipe.

Sesame magic (Ohitashi_ roasted sesame and spinach salad)

This is one of the most popular and simplest salads eaten at Japanese dinner tables. It’s very simple to make but has such lovely flavor and goodness.

You need a (suribachi & surikogi) Japanese style motor and a pestle.

Ingredients

A bunch of English spinach (not silver beet-it’s too tough)

A pinch of salt

2 tbsp roasted white sesame

1 tbsp white vinegar

1tbsp soy sauce (kikkoman is preferable)

A pinch of dried bonito (optional)

Method

Boil water in a big pot.

Wash a bunch of spinach in a bowl with plenty of water.

When the water boils, add a pinch of salt in the pot.

Grab a bunch of washed spinach and put it in the pot roots first, 
then slowly put them in boiling water until covered with hot water. 
It only takes few minutes (do not over cook).

Once it's cooked, drain spinach then run them under running water to stop further cooking. Once it is cooled, put the bunch together (same side together, such as all roots on one side) and squeeze the spinach by hands. 
Cut off the roots then cut them into about 5 cm length.

Add roasted sesame in a Suribachi and grind with a wooden pestle.

Squeeze the extra water from the spinach prepared before and put it into the Suribachi. Pour vinegar and soy sauce over the spinach. Mix it well. Once it's done, you can serve it in the suribachi or in a different bowl. 
Add dried bonito if you chose.