spinach salad asian-style

Make this and you’ll be pushing more spinach than Popeye! Too bad Olive Oyl didn’t know about this one, mind you, she would’ve had to have stopped buying spinach in case lots and gone for the fresh stuff. And unfortunately for spinach, it was the stuff in the can that gave it such an appalling reputation. Really? Spinach in a can? What could be nastier? Don’t answer that!

Get yourself a mound of fresh, gorgeously green leaves and proceed with passion, purpose and full knowledge that, in the nutrient department, nothing is richer, denser or higher – kinda like the Big Apple – you know, the king of the hill, the top of the heap sort of thing – of the vegetable patch.

To the Japanese, this is gomae, to the rest of us, this is the only way to consume spinach. I promise. And a word about the raw vs cooked debate – have you noticed that a massive mound of raw spinach cooks down to something you could inhale? We stuff our largest pan in the kitchen full of green leaves, force on the lid and mere minutes later … where’d it go? Which is precisely why cooking it is the way to go – consumption approaches epic proportions in volume, which leads to a nutritional homerun. Not only can you consume vast amounts in a couple of mouthfuls, the iron that spinach has locked up is much more easily absorbed by us humans once it meets heat.

And finally, it’s right about now that I’m going to burst, (or should I say bust) the spinach salad myth that’s been thriving for decades – it’s a healthy choice, it’s spinach for God’s sake, so back up the spinach salad truck – beep, beep, beep! Well – yes, it is spinach – spinach wearing a 20 gram fat suit (and if that’s all it is, you got off easy)! Flat out, whatever your “dressing” of choice is – it’s fully-loaded. Sorry. The good news? Stick with this method, switch up the greens, switch up the sauce and start scarfing spinach like you’re trying to turn green!

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1. Wash, spin dry and pile in a microwave-safe bowl as much spinach as you like – I do a whole bag or bunch at a time (at least)! And you’ll soon see why. It does its amazing disappearing act.

2. Watch veeeeeery closely – see, the bowl is full, no mirrors, no smoke, well, maybe a little steam, so here goes …

3. One minute later, it starts to disappear like the amazing shrinking woman –

4. Going, going –

5. Gone – well, almost. It’s 1/4 of what I started with.

6. From here to –

7. To here. Now you can see why you can eat acres of spinach in one sitting.

8. Start squeezing. And when I say squeezing, I mean it – squeeze as much water out of the spinach as you can. it will probably be the size of a baseball.

9. After the big squeeze, lay the spinach down and run a knife through it a few times.

10. Get out the base for the sauce – tahini, either soy or ponzu and a hint of sweet in the form of sugar or agave.

11. Now we’re makin’ sauce – and that would be tahini, soy sauce & garlic.

12. Whisk it all around.

13. Add a splash of water to thin it slightly.

14. Add a drizzle of blue agave or honey to sweeten – it’s the hint of sweetness that will keep you coming back for more.

15. Add the chopped spinach to the sauce and mix well.

16. Toast a tablespoon or 2 of sesame seeds if you like, not mandatory, but nice.

17. Drizzle a little sesame oil to finish before the seeds go on, to bring that sesame flavour home.

18. Sesame seeds go on – and ta dah – Japanese-inspired spinach salad.

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