{"id":163120,"title":"H\u014drens\u014d gomaae – Japanese sesame spinach","modified":"2026-08-17T19:35:13+02:00","plain":"Blanched spinach coated in a ground white sesame sauce that’s sweet-savory and delicately nutty.\n\n\n\nA small bowl of glossy spinach, barely warm, and the sesame already takes center stage. The ground white sesame sauce coats each leaf, mellow and lightly sweet, with a toasted nuttiness that keeps you coming back for more. \n\n\n\nThe spinach keeps its fresh bite, and the sauce doesn’t pool at the bottom of the bowl. It looks like a simple side dish, right up until the first bite.\n\n\n\nAnother understated chilled dish : hiyayakko, extra-fresh tofu with the lightest dressing.\n\n\n\nWhat is h\u014drens\u014d gomaae ?\n\n\n\nH\u014drens\u014d gomaae is blanched spinach coated in a white sesame sauce, seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, sake, and dashi. Sesame leads the way, and the sauce stays relatively light : it clings to the leaves instead of settling at the bottom of the bowl. \n\n\n\nThe dish belongs to the broad Japanese family of seasoned vegetables, where the vegetable is cooked, thoroughly drained, then mixed with the seasoning just before serving.\n\n\n\nIn the same spirit of a small dish served alongside rice : tsukemono, Japanese pickled vegetables.\n\n\n\nThe key technique is called sh\u014dyu-arai. After blanching and an initial squeeze, the spinach is drizzled with a little soy sauce, then squeezed a second time. \n\n\n\nThat lightly seasons it and removes excess water, which keeps the sesame sauce from being diluted. The name says the rest : h\u014drens\u014d, spinach, and goma-ae, “mixed with sesame.”\n\n\n\nThe same soaking approach, this time with okra : okra no ohitashi\n\n\n\nThe main ingredients in h\u014drens\u014d gomaae\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpinach is the star of the dish. It’s blanched just long enough, cooled in cold water, then squeezed so the sauce coats the leaves without making them soggy. A little salt in the blanching water helps set the bright green color.\n\n\n\nWhite sesame seeds are at the heart of the seasoning. They’re dry-toasted, then ground while still warm in a suribachi, the Japanese mortar, into a thick, slightly grainy paste that clings to the leaves. Soy sauce comes into play at two stages : a touch for the sh\u014dyu-arai, then more in the sauce, where it adds umami depth.\n\n\n\nSugar rounds out the saltiness of the soy sauce and softens the spinach’s slight bitterness. Sake fine-tunes the balance, and dashi loosens the sesame paste just enough to create an even coating. \n\n\n\nA few pointers for great h\u014drens\u014d gomaae\n\n\n\nCook the spinach only briefly, stems first and leaves second, then plunge it into cold water to lock in the color. From there, it’s all about squeezing, before and after the sh\u014dyu-arai, so nothing waters down the sauce. Build the sauce with warm, freshly ground toasted sesame, and mix in the spinach at the last moment to preserve its texture.\n\n\n\nTo turn it into a complete meal, serve it with a generous bowl of gyudon.\n\n\n\nAt the table, gomaae works beautifully as a side dish, alongside miso soup, onigiri, or teriyaki chicken. For a plant-based version, kombu dashi can replace classic dashi ; and if needed, a gluten-free tamari can stand in for soy sauce.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tH\u014drens\u014d Gomaae - Japanese Sesame Spinach\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t300 g spinachsalt (for the blanching water)soy sauce (a little, for the spinach (sh\u014dyu-arai))Sesame Sauce5 tablespoons white sesame seeds1 tablespoon sugar (slightly less)1.5 tablespoons soy sauce (Japanese-style (such as Kikkoman))1 teaspoon sake1 tablespoon dashi\t\n\t\n\t\tPrepare the SpinachBring a large pot of salted water to a boil.Cut a small cross into the base of the spinach stems.Add the stems to the boiling water first, then the leaves.Blanch until the spinach is just tender, then immediately transfer it to cold water.Squeeze out the excess water.Drizzle with a little soy sauce, then squeeze again (sh\u014dyu-arai).Cut the spinach into pieces about 3 cm long.Make the Sesame SauceDry-toast the sesame seeds in a pan to remove any moisture, then transfer them, while still hot, to a thoroughly dry mortar (suribachi).Grind the sesame seeds well.Add the sugar, soy sauce, sake, and dashi, then mix to make the sauce.AssembleToss the spinach with the sesame sauce just before serving.\t\n\t\n\t\t\nSalting the cooking water helps preserve the spinach's bright green color.\nCutting a small cross into the stems and adding them before the leaves ensures even cooking; transferring the spinach straight to cold water helps set the color.\nSh\u014dyu-arai (drizzling the blanched spinach with a little soy sauce, then squeezing it) seasons it while removing excess water, which keeps the sesame sauce from becoming diluted.\nAs with many Japanese dressed vegetable dishes, toss the spinach with the sauce just before serving to avoid excess moisture.\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\tAccompagnementJaponaise","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}