Horenso no Gomaae: Japanese spinach salad with toasted sesame dressing

Go to recipe ↓

Are you looking for a simple and delicious Japanese dish that’s quick to prepare and makes the perfect side dish for various meals? Then you should definitely try “Horenso no Gomaae” – a Japanese spinach salad in a savoury, nutty sesame dressing. Enjoy this healthy vegetable side dish in under 10 minutes! I’ll show you how!

Horenso no Gomaae Japanese spinach salad recipe image

Horenso no Gomaae (Japanese spinach salad with sesame) is a delicious side dish made from blanched spinach, mixed with ground sesame seeds and flavoured with Japanese spices. It’s absolutely delicious and is also perfect for Bento Boxes!

The secret ingredient that gives the dish its unique flavour is freshly roasted and ground sesame seeds. This gives the salad a wonderfully nutty flavour and the perfect crunch. If you want to make it like a true Japanese person, you should definitely use a traditional mortar and pestle to grind the sesame seeds.

Goma means sesame seeds in Japanese and goma ae is a dish dressed with sesame sauce. Spinach or green beans are often dressed with sesame sauce in Japanese cuisine.

The sweet and savoury sesame sauce made from freshly ground sesame seeds gives the freshly blanched green vegetables a rich and nutty flavour.

Horenso no Gomaae Japanese spinach salad Cover image 2

However, the word ‘gomaae’ also has another, deeper meaning. It originates from Buddhist tradition and roughly translates as ‘preparing something with devotion’. With this lovely thought in mind, let’s now take a look at how to make this simple dish!

First, we’ll make the dressing: heat a non-stick pan over a medium to high heat and toast the sesame seeds. As soon as the first sesame seeds start to pop, turn off the heat and crush the toasted sesame seeds in a mortar, grinding them together. Then mix with soy sauce, Mirin, Sake and sugar and stir to form a dressing.

Whilst the dressing is resting, bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the spinach for 1 minute. Then transfer the spinach to cold water and squeeze out the excess water in batches.

Traditionally, this recipe is made with Japanese komatsuna spinach. If you can get hold of it, feel free to use this variety. Otherwise, this recipe is also delicious with ordinary, but definitely fresh, spinach!

Now all we have to do is chop the individual portions of spinach and mix them with the homemade roasted sesame dressing. Our delicious spinach salad with sesame dressing is ready! I recommend serving it in small bowls and enjoying it – Itadakimasu!

Horenso no Gomaae is a really quick and easy dish that makes a healthy and delicious addition to many Japanese meals

The homemade sesame dressing gives this Japanese spinach salad a unique nutty flavour and crunch. I hope you have lots of success and fun cooking – if you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to use the comments section below the recipe 😊. Let’s get started:

Sesame Spinach Salad

serves 4 | 10 minutes | 57 kcal

🖨️ Print PDF 📌 Save pin

Have you ever heard of “Horenso no Gomaae”? It’s a delicious spinach salad with a savoury sesame sauce, served in Japan as a popular side dish with many meals. The great thing about it is that it’s super quick and easy to make, and healthy too. Here I’ll show you how to make it – passaggio by passaggio.

Ingredients (serves 4)

250 g spinach (fresh)
1 tsp salt

3 tbsp sesame seeds (im Shop ansehen)*
2 tbsp Shoyu soya sauce (im Shop ansehen)*
1/2 tbsp Sake (im Shop ansehen)*
1/2 tbsp Mirin (im Shop ansehen)*
1 tbsp sugar

* Add ingredients to basket 🪄

Useful utensils:
Suribachi pestle & mortar
Fine-mesh sieve (im Shop ansehen)

Preparation (10 minutes)

Step 1

Prepare the ingredients needed for spinach with sesame sauce.

Horenso no Gomaae passaggio 2 Toasting the sesame seeds

Step 2

First, we’ll make the sesame dressing: To do this, heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat. Add the sesame seeds and toast for a few minutes. Give the sesame seeds a shake now and then or stir them with a spatula to prevent them from burning.
As soon as the first sesame seeds start to pop, turn off the heat and transfer the toasted sesame seeds to a mortar.

Horenso no Gomaae passaggio 3: Grinding the sesame

Step 3

Crush the toasted sesame seeds in the mortar and grind them together (ideally, a Japanese suribachi mortar is best for this, but any other type should work as well).

Horenso no Gomaae passaggio 4 - Fare il dressing al sesamo

passaggio 4 Step

Place the sesame paste (it’s fine if a few coarse pieces remain visible) into a small bowl. Then mix the sesame paste with soya sauce, Mirin, Sake and sugar and stir to form a dressing. Set aside.

Step 5

Now bring about 3 litres of water to the boil in a large saucepan. Add the salt .
Meanwhile, prepare a bowl of ice-cold water .
As soon as the water boils, briefly rinse the spinach under running water and add it straight to the saucepan.
Press the pile of spinach into the hot water with a spoon or a slotted spoon and cook for 1 minute (if you have very tender spinach, it’s better to cook it for a little less time!).

Horenso no Gomaae passaggio 6: Cuocere il cavolo verde

Step 6

Then quickly remove the spinach with a slotted spoon and place it straight into the prepared cold water.
Leave to cool briefly, then remove in batches with your hands and squeeze out the water. Place in a bowl.

Step 7

Cut each portion of spinach with a knife into three pieces, then return to the bowl and mix with the sesame dressing (you can use a spoon; I prefer to use my hands here, as it works better).