Goma-ae

This spinach and sesame side dish makes a lovely chilled summer accompaniment to any meal .

I used Asian spinach it’s slightly different to the small leaf spinach you get in the UK .

First make your sauce I find the easiest method is to use already ground sesame seeds in a packet .

Take one tablespoon of ground sesame and mix with that a tablespoon of tamari or soy sauce a teaspoon of mirin and a teaspoon of unrefined sugar ( mix well ) This is the basic sauce but if you want to make it a little more citrus you could add 1/2 teaspoon of yuzu juice .

Cook your spinach in boiling salted water for 2 mins takes out and plunge into iced water .  Squeeze out the water from your spinach and lay out on a chopping board and chop into pieces . Place your chopped spinach into a bowl and add your sesame sauce and mix in . Again I like to make this a little different by either spicing up the spinach a bit with schichimi powder or adding even more citrus with some sansho pepper.

Chill in the fridge .