Hanami Sunomono

Hanami Sunomono
Paired With Murai Family Tokubetsu Honjozo
by Gabe Rosen, Biwa Izakaya, Portland, Oregon
Note from the Chef: This lovely and simple dish is a Japanese classic and
almost as pretty as sakura (cherry blossoms). For Hanami, we felt that this
salad, which complements many different foods and is perfect for a picnic,
would be a great match with this award winning tokubetsu honjozo!
Main Ingredients
1 english hothouse cucumber 12 medium shrimp in shell
.5 cup dried wakame
1 Tbl toasted sesame seed
salt to taste
Dressing
1.5 Tbl sugar
1 cup mirin
1 tsp salt
1 small piece konbu (optional)
1 cup rice wine vinegar (unseasoned!)
Poaching Seasoning
1 cup rice wine vinegar (unseasoned!)
salt
1. Prepare dressing
Combine sugar, mirin, salt and konbu in a small saucepan. Heat to a bare simmer. Cool in
refridgerator. Remove konbu and add rice wine vinegar.
2. Prepare shrimp
Peel shrimp leaving the last bit of shell attached to the tail. With a small sharp knife carefully
butterfly the shrimp, through the belly side, to leave you with shrimp that are completely
intact, but can spread open flat (this is the only hard part about this recipe and if is doesn’t
go exactly according to plan really isn’t that big of a deal anyway… it just makes really pretty
shrimp that look like flowers!) Make a small (.5 inch) longitudinal cut through the middle of
the shrimp, and pull the tail through the cut through the back of the shrimp, effectively turning it inside out.
Combine rice wine vinegar and water in a small saucepan with enough salt to make the
mixture taste like seawater. Add the shrimp and slowly bring to just below a simmer,
stirring often, until the shrimp are just barely cooked (probably less time than you might
think). Immediatly remove from water and put on a plate in a single layer in the fridge to
cool.
3. Prepare wakame
Reconstitute dried wakame in a bowl with cold water for 5 minutes. Drain.
4. Make salad!
Using a mandolin or a patient steady hand and sharp knife, very thinly slice the cucumber. Place in a bowl with the wakame and add salt and dressing to taste. This is a salad
that takes well to a lot of salt and dressing, and we like to squeeze the salad as we mix it
to make it real juicy. Add the shrimp to the bowl. Give a last toss. Divide between 4 bowls
and sprinkle sesame seeds on top!
-extra dressing will keep, refridgerated, indefinitely!
Presented By SakéOne, Oregon • 503.357.7056 www.sakeone.com