Nori anyone?

[Mooshmouse]

I'm a huge nori fan. When I order the deconstructed tuna maki at Hapa Izakaya or negitoro at Gyoza King, I end up noshing on the nori itself and eating the fish separately.

That being said, I was totally stumped this morning while standing in the aisle of my friendly neighbourhood(ish) T&T. Confronted with a huge array of nori packages, I had no idea if one brand name was preferable to the others.

Perhaps one of you who's better educated in the nuances of Japanese food products available in Vancouver than I am could point me in the right direction as far as which brand of nori is best for snacking.

Thanks in advance.

[Keith Talent]

I'm a huge nori fan.  When I order the deconstructed tuna maki at Hapa Izakaya or negitoro at Gyoza King, I end up noshing on the nori itself and eating the fish separately.

That being said, I was totally stumped this morning while standing in the aisle of my friendly neighbourhood(ish) T&T.  Confronted with a huge array of nori packages, I had no idea if one brand name was preferable to the others.

Perhaps one of you who's better educated in the nuances of Japanese food products available in Vancouver than I am could point me in the right direction as far as which brand of nori is best for snacking.

Thanks in advance. 

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My kid bring home nori snack she trades one of her friends. It's always sweet, or at least sweetish, something I'm not a fan of. I like how it's really crisp, but would prefer smoky/salty flavoured nori rather than sweet. Maybe that doesn't even exist. Japanese snacks are completely bizzare to my western pallette, esp the preference for sweetness along with seafood flavours. Once coming home from Japapn I bought a bag of tiny dried snack crabs, covered in chili and sugar. They were odd.

[sanrensho]

Perhaps one of you who's better educated in the nuances of Japanese food products available in Vancouver than I am could point me in the right direction as far as which brand of nori is best for snacking.

No real opinion on nori brands, nor do I really snack on nori (always with rice). However, if you like salt and sesame oil, I would recommend a Korean nori.

EDITED TO ADD: FWIW, we usually buy our Japanese nori at Fujiya or Angel Seafoods.

Edited February 15, 2006 by sanrensho (log)

[JasmineL]

My 12 yr old sister buys a seasoned nori that is nice for snacking on, it is pretty salty. Next time I am at my mom's I will find out the brand. The stuff she buys comes in small, individual serving sizes...packaged in a larger bag.

[tokyogurumegal]

Mooshmouse! My husband laughed out loud when he read your post... I do the exact same thing and he just doesn't get it. I buy the inexpensive kind that are individually wrapped (you know how Japanese are compulsive about wrapping...) and they are also seasond. We call them ajitsuke nori. Perfect for snacking!

If you want sushi grade "hane" nori it would be hard to find it in supermarkets or even Japanese food supply stores in Vancouver. Those come in big square sheets but the kind I like to snack on are packaged in small packs cut in smaller pieces. This particular kind I get has 100 packs in the whole package and it only costs $5.99. I get mine at Apple Farm Market on 4th Ave but I'm sure T&T or Yaohan has them too. The name is in Japanese (sketchy Japanese might I add) it's called Chitsuruya Nori.

Happy nori snacking!

[sanrensho]

If you want to try pushing the seaweed (specifically kelp) envelope, you could try some of the kombu snacks available at Fujiya, etc. Just ask the staff for help. Unlike nori, these are actually eaten as snacks in Japan.

[Hiroyuki]

If you want to try pushing the seaweed (specifically kelp) envelope, you could try some of the kombu snacks available at Fujiya, etc. Just ask the staff for help. Unlike nori, these are actually eaten as snacks in Japan.

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I'm pretty sure that there are nori snacks in Japan, like these. Maybe there were no such snacks while you were in Japan.

[sanrensho]

I'm pretty sure that there are nori snacks in Japan, like these.  Maybe there were no such snacks while you were in Japan.

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Thanks for posting that. It doesn't surprise me that there are nori snacks somewhere in Japan, but availability is likely to be spotty here in Vancouver. (Although I'll be the first to admit that I haven't looked.)

I believe that the original poster was referring to munching on sheets of plain nori or ajitsuke nori. I kind of doubt that many Japanese are grabbing for nori when they want a snack, although many Japanese snacks/foods do use nori. How about you, Hiroyuki?

I would much rather grab a sheet of Korean nori for snacking purposes...sesame oil, sea salt and crisp nori...yum!

[Hiroyuki]

I kind of doubt that many Japanese are grabbing for nori when they want a snack, although many Japanese snacks/foods do use nori. How about you, Hiroyuki?

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You are right, partly because many consider nori to be something that you eat for breakfast and mainly because you can't fill your stomach with it.

I recently found a nori tempura snack at the local 100-yen shop, which I find quite good.

[Mooshmouse]

Thanks, everyone, for your input!

Plain nori or ajitsuke nori is, indeed, what I'm after. During my initial look through the aisles that had prompted this question in the first place, I guessed that Japanese nori was superior to Korean nori for some reason and am quite happy that sanrensho has prompted me to try the latter. I also spotted the Chitsuruya Nori that tokyogurumegal mentioned and was quite attracted to this idea since the individually wrapped single servings would keep the nori fresh and crispy.

Though I was originally at T&T, rest assured that I'll be heading down the hill to Fujiya for further reconnaissance and will be sure to report back.

Thanks again!

[sanrensho]

During my initial look through the aisles that had prompted this question in the first place, I guessed that Japanese nori was superior to Korean nori for some reason and am quite happy that sanrensho has prompted me to try the latter.

Korean nori is really an entirely different animal from any Japanese nori. In addition to the sesame oil and sea salt, the nori itself tends to be lacy. This stuff is highly addictive and heavenly when wrapped around a moderate portion of perfectly hot, steaming short grain rice.

I could easily make a meal out of a bowl of rice and a stack of Korean nori. We usually buy multi-packs in large squares (like Japanese nori), which you can find at any Korean grocery.

I would guess that the Chinese nori is intended as a low cost option to Japanese nori. We usually buy the Japanese stuff, so I can't compare in terms of taste or flavour.

-Kenji

Edited February 21, 2006 by sanrensho (log)

[Hiroyuki]

I guessed that Japanese nori was superior to Korean nori for some reason

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It's not that Korean nori is inferior. Korean nori is a different variety called 'iwa nori' in Japanese.

Edited to add:

I like to eat nori by dipping it in a special sauce, which is easy to make - Just mix one part soy sauce and one part mirin (well, fake mirin, to be more exact) together and heat the mixture in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. My children also love the sauce.

Edited February 21, 2006 by Hiroyuki (log)

[flowbee]

i LOVE korean nori! one of my fave easy meals is to cook up some pork and eat it with korean rice and nori. eat a bite of pork and rice, then eat some nori wrapped around a bit of rice out of your bowl. you lay the piece of nori on your rice, then use your chopsticks to pick up a hunk of rice using the nori. delicious! here's a quick recipe:

sliced pork (marinated with chopped garlic and bit of sesame oil)

sliced zuccini

julienned carrots

korean "kochujang" (spicy red paste)

stir fry the carrots and zuccini until about 3/4 done. set aside. stir fry the pork until done, smear in a couple tablespoons of kochujang and a splash of soy sauce and add the veggies back in and mix it around for a minute then serve! if you want to go full-on korean, wash up some lettuce leaves, put a hunk of rice into your lettuce "cup" and add some pork and extra kochujang or even ssamjang and eat!

whenever i make this, i MUST have that seaweed with it. and also kimchi, of course (i love the kimchi from Han Ah Reum supermarket on North Rd near Lougheed--yes, in Coquitlam. it's very delicious and fresh-tasting. sometimes you can find little raw clams in there...yum!)

last time i bought korean seaweed was at Hyundai market on Kingsway, just 1/2 block east of Safeway, between Joyce and Boundary. they had this crab flavoured seaweed, as well as a spicy seaweed. i bought a regular, a spicy and a crab in the same brand to compare, and frankly i couldn't taste any crab flavour...we preferred the regular one.

Edited March 29, 2006 by flowbee (log)

[Mooshmouse]

Since starting this thread, I've made a jaunt to T&T and picked up a batch of Moto Moto Yama teriyaki nori (seaweed, soy sauce, sugar, chili powder). It's Taiwanese and comes in individual plastic-wrapped packets of about 5 or 6 sheets each. The only reason I chose this brand over all the others available is that it's sold in a plastic jar for ease of storage... that in addition to the fact that it's not a 100-sheet package and I wanted to sample it before buying a metric tonne of nori. Needless to say, however, it's not lasting very long and I'll have to stock up again soon.

Thanks for all the tips! I'll be sure to provide a flavour report on my next package.