Spinach Salad with Sesame Dressing ほうれん草のおひたし

My sisters and I loved our spinach growing up. Tasted great. It's because mom used to make this dish whenever we had spinach. In fact, I'm convinced that until I was an adult I'd never eaten just plain, raw spinach leaves as in a salad or whatnot.

There are a bunch of different combinations of this Japanese spinach "salad," like topping it with bonito flakes or pickled ginger. But here, I do a simple sesame seed dressing which is just as fast, easy and delicious. Serve it with steamed white rice or just by itself as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 bundle of fresh spinach (400g) ほうれん草
• water, for boiling 水
• 1-2 Tbsp white sesame seeds 白護摩
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce 醤油
• 2 Tbsp fish stock (dashi stock) だし汁
• pinch of sugar 砂糖

After my spinach is washed, in a large pan, I let water come to a boil and then I drop in the spinach, all facing the same way. Not a lot of water needed, either - just enough that my spinach will be immersed in it.

For this big bundle of spinach, I do the spinach in two batches. 

The spinach boils so fast that it really takes less than a minute! I like my spinach not to be mushy and to have a little bit of firmness in the stem.

This is really more like blanching, I guess.

 As I remove the spinach, I keep them in generally the same direction so that it's easy to cut them later. I'll set them aside until the spinach cools a bit. Then I press them with a large knife or my hands to get the excess liquid out. This ensures that my dressing isn't diluted when I add it at the end.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, I measure out my sesame seeds. Of course, the fancier self imagines me putting these in one of those grinding bowls but I don't have one of those. So I take my alternative stoneware bowl and using the back of a miniature ladle, I take those sesame seeds and crush them enough that the aroma of the sesame starts to diffuse into the air. Mmm...

 In goes the soy sauce, fish stock, and a pinch of sugar. It's that easy! Mix it together and time to combine it with the spinach.

About the fish stock. Just as I have chicken stock and beef stock bouillons/granules handy for that quick fix meal, I also have a jar of "dashi" around. It's made of bonito fish and well, the jar says it's a "bonito fish soup stock," whatever that means. This can be found at pretty much any Japanese grocery store, since it's what one needs when making something as basic as miso soup.

My dressing is ready so my spinach gets cut and squeezed together in a bowl. I add the dressing to it, and my side dish of spinach salad is done! Enjoy.