The Seaweed burger is a sandwich I invented for the sixth edition of the “Around the World in 15 Sandwiches” series.
It is a fish burger with a patty made from: shrimp, seaweed (nori in English), smoked brown salt and macadamia nuts.
Served inside a focaccia-style roll and accompanied by shallot- and kombu-infused butter.
The nori is a type of red seaweed widely used in Japan and known worldwide for sushi: the hosomaki is the characteristic bite-sized roll of rice with a single central ingredient wrapped in nori seaweed.
Kombu belongs to the group of brown marine seaweeds. It is dark brown and is hand-harvested off the southeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan.
It is sold as dried leaves, to soak for about 20 minutes and then cook for another 20-30 minutes, or as a powder.
On the blog you can find other burgers I invented:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Moderate
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Cooking time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 1 sandwich
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Contemporary
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 5 oz shrimp (weight of shrimp, cleaned)
- 0.1 oz nori seaweed (in flakes)
- 2 oz macadamia nuts
- to taste pepper
- to taste smoked brown salt
- 1 focaccia-style roll
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/8 cups clarified butter
- 1 leaf kombu seaweed
- 1 shallot
Steps
Prepare the patty: mix the cleaned shrimp (chopped) with nori flakes, pepper, smoked brown salt and chopped macadamia nuts. Mix until combined.
Form the burger using a ring mold.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
For the flavored butter: bring the butter to a spreadable consistency by leaving it out of the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Finely chop the shallot.
Soak the kombu leaf for about 20 minutes, then simmer it for another 20-30 minutes in boiling water. Let it cool and finely chop it.
Combine all the ingredients.
Spread the butter on a sheet of cling film, roll it up like a candy to form a log. Refrigerate to firm up.
In a skillet with a drizzle of oil, cook the fish burger for a few minutes on each side.
Toast the bread.
Spread the flavored butter.
Serve the burger inside the roll with a generous piece of flavored butter on top, letting it melt.
I used products from Roma Fine Food: nori flakes, dried kombu leaves and smoked brown salt.
FAQ (Questions & Answers)
Besides sushi, how can nori be used?
As a crunchy snack, in soups, with rice, with vegetables and salads.
How is kombu used in cooking?
It is used in Japanese cuisine for many traditional preparations such as dashi broth (with powdered or granulated kombu) or miso soup.
It can be used when cooking legumes to make them softer and more digestible, and also in macrobiotic cuisine.What other seaweed is easy to find and use in cooking?
Wakame, another brown marine seaweed. It can also be added to miso soup or used as an addition to salads.
In Japan fresh wakame can be found in markets, while exported wakame is typically dried.
