Nori Seaweed

[filipe]

Has anyone used nori seaweed to do any pastry items?

Which sweet flavours do you think will make a good combination with it?

[andrewB]

Has anyone used nori seaweed to do any pastry items?

Which sweet flavours do you think will make a good combination with it?

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i have made nori sugar and used it for a few things. nori brulee was interesting but not great. nori and chocolate paired well, maybe the best i tried. What doesn't work so well was fruit. I found the nori was too strong for most fruits used and who wants a 'fishy' pineapple for example...

[Tweety69bird]

nori and chocolate paired well, maybe the best i tried.

andrewB, do you think you would be able to elaborate on how you used the nori and chocolate together? Did you make some sort of chocolate sushi?

Thanks!

[filipe]

I don't eat/like sushi so I'm not familiar with nori seaweed's taste.

I was thinking on trying some sushi-like deserts using a typical portuguese desert of sweet rice, replacing the sushi rice by this one and do the rolling as if it was sushi. I thought on diping the nori sheet in some syrup flavoured with cinamon or lemon. Do you think it might work? Or would the nori get so wet that it won't be able to be rolled properly?

[JasonTrue]

I think if you're trying to use fruit flavors, other than certain pickled fruits, you're better off with a deception of nori, like this cookie company in California makes:

http://www.kookisushi.com/

see, for example:

http://www.kookisushi.com/sushi.htm

They simulate nori with chocolate or some other ingredients.

I can't imagine cinnamon or orange with nori, but that's probably my own bias tending to favor more conventional Japanese combinations.

Edited February 8, 2006 by JasonTrue (log)

[Sethro]

I think its better used as a flavorant, as supposed to adorning desserts with actual pieces.

I've done nori truffles before. Its a flavor kind of like black truffle, where you have to be very measured with your use of it. It can give a nice earthy depth to a dessert, or it can overpower and ruin it.

Anyways you can steam and puree it, and then use it as is or blend it with a syrup to experiment with mousses, creams, ganache and the like.

You can also infuse with it, if you just want to get a subtle flavor...the natural msg never hurts either.

Edited February 9, 2006 by Sethro (log)

[helenjp]

I would brush rather than dip nori, and honestly, the moisture of the dessert will be more than enough - it will be crackly at first but will quickly soften, and in fact disintegrate if it gets too wet. It is quite delicate, so if you want to make a rolled dessert, you will have to think about how heavy the filling will be - sushi rice etc is not that heavy.

I was thinking about the marine flavor, and wondering about going the other way - instead of trying to match it with something just as intensely flavored, how about using it candied as a little accent to a custard? The sweet rice pudding sounds like a good direction.

I suppose the sushi rice must have been very sour originally, as it was fermented. The sugar now not only adds sweetness, but keeps the rice firm. Rolled sushi fillings will have one zing of a strong flavor like wasabi or a strong herb (ginger, scallions, shiso flowers or seedlings etc, plus bland rice with the freshness of mild vinegar, and the richness of a fish filling.

So...thinking out loud here...how about a mild pale custard or rice pudding, with a rose-petal confiture or candied rose petals on top, and a small whorl of candied torn nori?

Or, if you want the rolled sushi look...long straight very crispy and fragile churros style deepfried donuts soaked in orange syrup as the center of a rolled sushi, with a rather scant and highly fragrant pastry cream piped onto the nori, and rolled up? - so that the pastry cream acts like the rice in a rolled sushi, but MUCH LESS of it - just enough to bond the crunchy donut and the chewy nori.

I know, too crazy!

P.S. It fries quite well though you have to be quick - it's handy to stick bunches of fragile things together (just cut strips and dampen the end, and hold the item to be fried under the oil surface with chopsticks or tongs just where the nori is), and people also stick patches of it on fried breads.

Edited February 9, 2006 by helenjp (log)

[filipe]

I will try the nori with the sweet rice "pudding" and get some victims to taste it...

One of my other options to achieve a similar effect was to make a thin black jelly sheet, using agar agar flakes - so that the cool rice won't spoil the solidified jelly.

Do you think that this might work?

Any ideas on how to dye the jelly in black?

[helenjp]

I think I'd go to a Chinese store and buy a can of "seagrass jelly" which is black to start with. I haven't tried melting it and resetting it, but suspect that you could do so. I think it tastes faintly like aniseed, but try it and see.

[miladyinsanity]

I wouldn't try melting what Helen calls seagrass jelly--assuming that she and I are talking about the same thing.

I experimented with it, once--I can't remember why. It burnt in the pot. I spent a whole day scrubbing it.

[andrewB]

andrewB, do you think you would be able to elaborate on how you used the nori and chocolate together? Did you make some sort of chocolate sushi?

Thanks!

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no, i used roasted nori to flavor the chocolate. i have done it for a szechwan pepper/nori pot de creme. i have also made smoked nori chocolate for a sauce i did with fried banana profiteroles.

Edited February 10, 2006 by andrewB (log)

[cluvy]

well, I would add it to sweet or savoury tuiles. they can be quite addictive really.

[highchef]

Though it's not a pastry, this moths Savour mag. features Ireland, where they also use a lot of seaweedl. there is a recipe for a lemon custard. The cook says she sometimes uses lemon verbana instead of lemon and that it is not very sweet.