As a child, roasted seaweed, aside from sushi, was strictly home food. Mom would buy these large squares of seaweed that we would roast over the gas flame on the range and then cut into small rectangles with a sharp pair of kitchen shears. We would have bowls of hot steamed rice and small plates of soy sauce at the ready. Mom taught me to carefully heap my rice in a pile in the center of the bowl. Then we would dip the roasted seaweed paper into the soy sauce, lightly coating one side. We would drape it over the rice and use our chopsticks to wrap it around a small portion, creating a little cornucopia to be eaten in a single bite. Sometimes when she came home from trips to Japan she would bring canisters of pre-seasoned seaweed strips, these were a special treat, and I would eat them straight out of the can as often as I ate them with rice.
It was with some bemusement several years ago that I notice a wave of seaweed snacks appearing in the supermarket. The initial offerings seemed to be deep fried. While they had an enticing crunch, they were also greasy and somewhat unpleasant to my palate. When Amaya came home one day asking me to buy the organic seaweed snacks that she had at a friend's house, I decided to give them another chance. I came across these Gimme Organic Seaweed snacks at a local supermarket and tossed them in my cart. They are roasted with sunflower seed oil and have just a hint of salt. The rectangles are pleasantly crisp, slowly melting into that familiar chewy, nori deliciousness. There's a hint of richness from the oil but they are not greasy or tough. I could easily wrap these around rice without even dipping them into soy sauce. I'm not sure how filling they are, in terms of being a snack, but they are satisfying and delicious, especially if you already have a taste for seaweed--as I do.
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