Cucumber & Daikon Radish Salad with Hijiki

This salad is deliciously savory, salty and crunchy.   Sea vegetables like hijiki are potent sources of nutrients including iodine, calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc and selenium.   They’re powerhouses.   Landlocked peoples would often go to great lengths to secure food from the sea including sea vegetables as well as fish and fish roes.

You’ll need:

• 1 Large Cucumber
• ¼ C Dried Hijiki
• 4 Small Daikon Radishes or 1 Large Radish
• 2 Red Scallions
• 2 Tablespoons Gomasio (Japanese Sesame Salt)
• Asian-style Ginger Vinaigrette to Dress the Salad or Plain Tamari

Soak the dried hijiki in water for ten minutes, then boil it for fifteen minutes.   Drain the seaweed and reserve it.

Now, slice the cucumber.   Peel and slice the daikon radishes.   I like to use a spiral slicer for this dish, but it’s far from necessary. Mince the scallion.   Mix all the vegetables together with the sesame salt and dress the salad very lightly with either an Asian-style Ginger Vinaigrette or with a touch of plain tamari.

Soak up all the mineraly goodness.