I'M NEW, BENEVENUTO!!
Posted by vivalabananas on Apr 13, 2007 · Member since Apr 2007 · 1 posts
Hi, I absolutely love cooking and am a young veg in a meat eating family. I pretty much only cook for myself and have recently found through trial and error that veg cooking can be a little tricky if you don't know what you are doing! First question....
Kombu, what the hell? I recently had a delicious meal at a restaraunt that featured kombu and have seen this vegan chef on tv use it. If I go out to my local health food store to buy it, how should I purchase it? In pieces or powder or what...
Well, welcome aboard! You'll get lots of support here. Even so, I won't be the one to help you with the kombu thing. Someone who's had experience with it will have to respond to that--and I'm sure they will. :)
Kombu is a sea vegetable (seaweed) and is quite tasty. I get mine from my co-op in a little baggie. I'd be surprised if you have too many options with kombu; it will probably be sold like that or possibly in a bulk container where you'll be able to grab a few strips. They get larger when you re-constitute them. I don't usually eat the strips; I add a little to soups and when I boil pasta, seitan, potatoes, etc...
Welcome aboard!
For one or two servings, which is what you probably cook for one person, a two-inch chunk of kombu is plenty. Cut it off with kitchen shears (and don't grab your mom's craft scissors or she'll brain you, guaranteed ;)) and either soak in water for a couple of hours or add to soup and let it cook and reconstitute at the same time. Once it's softened you can shred it up easier.
Welcome /bienvenido/bienvenu!
Hi!
I'm new too, but I'll tell you I've only been here a couple of days & I've already learned so much from this wonderful board. Plus everyone is so nice, I think you'll like it here. Good luck with the kombu. :)
We buy kombu in little baggies dried from the asian store. I usually just use it for flavor for soup bases like dashi (Japanese fish broth that I make vegan). Then I pluck it out.
Yabbit, I never actually ate or used the kombu for anything else. Is there a way that I can use it instead of throwing it away (recipes and whatnot)? Is it chewy?
Welcome! :)
I've been vegetarian for years and have never used kombu! I usually omit it or substitute something else. I do love seaweed, but my faves are dulse, kelp and wakame.
I usually just try to find out what an ingredient does for a recipe (if I remember, kombu tenderizes, adds saltiness and an "ocean" flavour) - then I know how to substitute.