Japanese Creamy Sesame Spinach (胡麻和え)

This hearty vegetable side dish from Japan embraces tender, wilted spinach in a creamy, umami-packed sesame sauce.

This wonderful spinach preparation from Japan is known as ‘gom-ae’. It’s possibly the best way I know you can serve spinach and I have enticed plenty of kids into eating greens for the first time with this dish alone. It’s delicious with rice for a modest, home-style Japanese lunch, or served with a grander izakaya-style assortment of grilled meats and pickles. The secret is entirely in the sauce. A simple combination of sesame paste, soy and lemon makes an intensely deep, flavourful cream - over-powering on it’s own, but gorgeous with bland greens. The spinach for ‘gom-ae’ is blanched with hot water and pressed into a compact ball. All the better to unravel at the table and mop up the sauce. A fun dish to play with using chopsticks! Let’s go!