The Seaweed burger is a sandwich of my invention, created for the sixth edition of the column “Around the world in 15 sandwiches”.
It is a fish burger with a patty made of: shrimp, seaweed (seaweed in English) Nori, smoked brown salt, and macadamia nuts.
Served inside a focaccia-like bread, accompanied by butter flavored with shallot and kombu seaweed.
Nori seaweed is a type of red seaweed particularly common in Japan, known worldwide as it is used in sushi preparation: the hosomaki is indeed the characteristic rice bite with a central ingredient and wrapped in nori seaweed.
Kombu seaweed is part of the group of brown seaweeds, it is dark brown in color and is hand-harvested in the waters off the southeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan.
It is commercially available in the form of dried leaves, to be soaked for about 20 minutes and then cooked for another 20-30 minutes, or in the form of powder.
In the blog, you can find other burgers of my invention:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 1 sandwich
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Contemporary
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 5.3 oz shrimp (weight of cleaned shrimp)
- 1 tsp nori seaweed (in flakes)
- 1.75 oz macadamia nuts
- to taste pepper
- to taste smoked brown salt
- 1 focaccia-like bread
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 8.8 oz clarified butter
- 1 leaf kombu seaweed
- 1 shallot
Steps
Prepare the patty: Mix the shrimp (cleaned) chopped with the nori seaweed, pepper, smoked salt, and chopped macadamia nuts. Mix well.
Shape the burger using a pastry ring.
Place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
For the flavored butter: Soften the butter by leaving it out of the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Finely chop the shallot.
Soak the kombu seaweed for about 20 minutes, then cook for another 20-30 minutes in boiling water. Cool and chop.
Combine all ingredients.
Spread the butter on a sheet of plastic wrap, roll into a candy shape to form a log. Chill in the refrigerator until firm.
In a pan with a drizzle of oil, cook the fish burger for a few minutes on each side.
Toast the bread.
Spread some flavored butter.
Serve the burger inside the bread with a generous piece of flavored butter on top, to melt.
I used products from Roma Fine Food: nori seaweed in flakes, kombu seaweed in dried leaves, and smoked brown salt.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Besides sushi, how can nori seaweed be used?
As a crunchy snack, in soups, with rice, with vegetables and salads.
How is kombu seaweed used in cooking?
It is used in Japanese cuisine for many traditional preparations like dashi broth (with the powder or granular form) or miso soup.
It can be used in cooking legumes to make them softer and more digestible, and also in macrobiotic cooking.What other seaweed can be easily found and used in cooking?
Wakame seaweed, another type of brown seaweed. It can also be added to miso soup or served as an addition to salads.
In Japan, fresh wakame seaweed can be found in markets, while exported ones are dried.
