Ingredients
| DRESSING | |
| 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar | |
| 1 tablespoon soy sauce | |
| 1 tablespoon sesame oil | |
| 1 tablespoon mirin | |
| SALAD | |
| 10g dried sea spaghetti | |
| 700g pumpkin, seeds removed, cut into 12 thin wedges (I used buttercup) | |
| vegetable oil, for frying | |
| 2 tablespoons soy sauce | |
| ½ cup (approx. 100g) edamame beans | |
| 150g frozen lotus root, defrosted | |
| ¼ cup pumpkin seeds |
A Japanese-inspired salad that is all about texture: crunchy lotus and pumpkin seeds, robust edamame and soft pumpkin. Sea spaghetti can be tricky to find (I got mine online from Pacific Harvest), but you could instead scatter over shredded nori with the pumpkin seeds. The dressing is on the sharpish side, but if you prefer you could cut it back for a more mellow salad.
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Instructions
| 1. | DRESSING |
| 2. | Combine all the ingredients and set aside. |
| 3. | SALAD |
| 4. | Heat the oven to 200°C. |
| 5. | Line a baking tray with baking paper. |
| 6. | Soak the dried seaweed in plenty of warm water for 30 minutes to rehydrate, then drain well (keep the liquid to use as a stock in another dish). |
| 7. | Toss the pumpkin with 1 tablespoon each of vegetable oil and soy sauce, season with salt and spread out on the tray in a single layer. |
| 8. | Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes (if you prefer you can roast the lotus roots in the same way using a little vegetable oil, although they won’t crisp up as much as if you fry them). |
| 9. | Blanch the edamame in boiling salted water, then drain and cool. |
| 10. | Heat some oil in a frying pan. |
| 11. | Pat dry the lotus roots and shallow fry for a few minutes on each side until golden. Drain on paper towels. |
| 12. | Dry toast the pumpkin seeds until they start to pop then add the remaining soy sauce and cook for a minute. Set aside. |
| 13. | Arrange the pumpkin wedges, seaweed, lotus roots and edamame on plates or a platter. |
| 14. | Drizzle the dressing over the vegetables and scatter over the pumpkin seeds. |
Recipes & food styling Ginny Grant / Photography Aaron McLean / Styling Jess Hemmings