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Recently Ukiyo, the Japanese restaurant in Pune launched its new menu. While the Tartare with Miso Bun that featured homemade miso buns paired with chilled chutoro tartare and truffle carpaccio, the Chilean Sea Bass Croquette, the Grilled Scallop Kimchi, and the Soft-Shell Crab Tempura were all exemplary, what stood out was the Wakame Salad.
Photo Credit: Ukiyo
A quick inquiry revealed that the salad featured more than just Wakame. There were three types of seaweed used to make the dish. Seaweed are marine plants and algae that grow on rocks below the high water mark. The freshness of the ingredients, elevated the salad, highlighting rare flavours. It brought the plate, the feeling of the sea.
Apart from Wakame, the salad uses Tosaka nori of two kinds - red and green. “These are difficult to source in India. You can find the dry version but the fresh version we use is much harder to source. When they are not available fresh, they are not served, which is why it’s not on the menu but shows up as seasonal specials,” says Chef Mayyur Tiwari, the Director of Culinary, Ritz-Carlton, Pune. Tosaka-nori is a red algae that resembles an irregularly shaped leaf commonly used in salads and broths in Japanese cuisine.
“Each seaweed has its distinct character and technique of processing just before consumption. Seaweeds such as Kombu are received as large leaves which are dehydrated. These require thorough rinsing before use. Mostly seaweeds are available in dehydrated form and can be used by simply rehydrating them. Seaweed such as Tosaka-Nori is covered in salt. In this case, we just have to rinse the salt and use it. Tosaka-Nori has to be stored in chillers and has a shelf life of about 3 months,” Tiwari explains.
The Many Varieties Of Imported Seaweed That Can Be Tried In India
Photo Credit: Miyuki
At Miyuki, the specialty Japanese restaurant at the Doubletree by Hilton, Pune, seaweed comes pre-processed and the curing techniques are minimal as these seaweeds usually come ready to use. “We use Kelp, a large brown seaweed in soups such as Miso Shiro, in rolls, and kelp noodles. Wakame, a tender seaweed with a slightly sweet flavour, is used in soups and salads. We used thin, dried Nori Sheets probably the most commonly available and commonly used seaweed, for different varieties of sushi,” says Chef KSR Murty, Chef de Cuisine at Doubletree by Hilton.
“The demand for Japanese food, including seaweed, is flourishing globally and in India. This growth is due to the benefits of seaweed, such as high protein content, fibres, nutritional values, and its ability to help control blood sugar,” he adds. The types of seaweed available are endless and now many of them are being brought to India, allowing diners to sample a wide variety. There is a vast variety of seaweed traditionally used in Japanese cuisine.
At Gingko in Pune, Chef Brehadeesh Kumar uses Aosa in powdered form as a topping on rice, okonomiyaki, and other dishes, for its fresh sea-like aroma, Mozuku, a slimy seaweed often brined in vinegar to make mozukusu, a popular accompaniment to rice and meals, Rishiri Kombu mainly used for making dashi owing to its hard-to-chew texture, long shelf life, and sweet-savory flavour rich in glutamic acid.
Photo Credit: The Good Ocean
Hidaka Kombu has a soft texture suitable for dishes and cooks easily. Hijiki a long, black tea leaf-like seaweed is commonly used in salads. “At present, I source most of the seaweed I need from Japanese and Korean suppliers. They process the seaweed into the ideal form and shape, for example, nori is processed into paper-thin sheets of standardised dimensions suitable for sushi. Rarer seaweed varieties are procured directly from producers during my visits to Japan,” says Brehadeesh.
“Dried seaweed has a long shelf life, allowing for convenient bulk purchases that can be used throughout the year. Wakame, in particular, expands significantly when rehydrated, so even a small 100g packet goes a long way. The key consideration is storing it in airtight packaging to prevent moisture absorption,” he adds.
Photo Credit: The Good Ocean
At Akina in Mumbai, the seaweed that comes from vendors in Japan, South Korea and Australia is found in other, diverse avatars. We use a wide variety of seaweeds apart from the usual Nori sheets & kombu. Aonori (blue seaweed) is toasted and used as a part of our furikakkes. Chuuka wakame, which is an undried seaweed that has a sweet taste, is used in our seaweed salad along with Kai sou, an algae that we rehydrate with cold water. It gives a soft snap to our salad. Some seaweeds like chuuka wakame are best eaten undried and so they come to us in the ocean water brine and frozen,” shares Chef Rahul Punjabi, Corporate Executive Chef, Aspect Hospitality that owns Nom Nom and Akina.
Photo Credit: The Good Ocean
“One cool technique that we use for our Korean Rock Laver sheets is to soak them in brown rice vinegar and then dehydrate them again. The vinegar has a natural sweetness to it that gets exacerbated with the drying process, it goes crisp like a shard and tastes like umami candy. Rock Laver however is hard to source and only features on special menus so keep an eye out for them,” he adds.
In The Indian Context
Chef Rahul believes that there is a space for seaweed in the sphere of Indian cuisine. “We are a culture that loves chutneys and we are also in the process of developing a seaweed chutney that incorporates umami along with chatpata flavour profiles. Our coastal curries already incorporate dried fish and prawns into the spice pastes and adding a dashi that has been infused with whole spices into the stock will take the curry to the next level,” he says.
Brehadeesh who has also experimented with using seaweed in Indian recipes says, “Seaweed can be very easily incorporated in Indian cuisine. In fact, a few communities in the southern states, do use seaweed in their cooking. I love adding a few reconstituted leaves of wakame to a koshimbir and it does magic. Adding aosa or aonori to curries as a natural umami seasoning is also a good start. And in general, I feel a simple thoran like light stir fry or as an ingredient in light sour soupy dishes like rasam, saar or kadi might work great as a way to incorporate seaweed in Indian cuisine.”
Photo Credit: The Good Ocean
In 2024, the National Conference on Promotion of Seaweed Cultivation was held in Koteshwar (Kori Creek), Kutch, Gujarat. It aimed at implementing seaweed cultivation on a pan-India basis, emphasising the promotion of seaweed cultivation to diversify marine production and improve fish farmer income. BJP’s election manifesto also included boosting seaweed cultivation under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.
In Goa, Gabriella D’cruz, a marine conservationist with a Masters’ degree in Biodiversity Conservation from Oxford, has founded, The Good Ocean, which looks at food-focused seaweed in India. The team harvests and processes local, Indian species of seaweed. At the moment, they work with Gracilaria and Sargassum variants. Once the seaweed is harvested, it is cleaned and dehydrated. Goa alone has about 145 varieties of seaweed
“I started working in the seaweed sector five years ago. I worked at a seaweed company after I finished with my master's and then I came back to India and have been working to understand the sector,” says D’cruz. While things have changed since she started out and she has seen the interest in seaweed grow over the years, she still thinks that there is a long way to go. “People are using seaweed in textiles, furniture, or things like that. It's not necessarily an ingredient. We are also launching India's first Seaweed Cracker snacks with Atmosphere Studio later this year. India usually imports all their seaweed snacks but this will be the first snack made from Indian seaweed.”
Does Seaweed Have A Place In Modern Indian Cuisine?
Photo Credit: Masque
The seaweed harvested by D Cruz’s is being used, at one of Mumbai’s most celebrated restaurants, Masque. “At Masque, we use ulva (sea lettuce) and the sargassum swartzii in particular. The sargassam swartzii is quite prolific and available freely but the ulva is sent to us in batches by The Good Ocean. We use seaweed in our Seaweed Ponkh Bhel and as a garnish in our Sea Buckthorn and Seaweed Pani Puri. We’ve also done special menus in the past where we’ve made a broth and salad dish with different kinds of seaweed,” says Varun Totlani, Head Chef, Masque Restaurant.
Photo Credit: The Good Ocean
“We’re seeing a lot of Korean seaweed snacks gaining popularity. The Japanese kombu is also doing well but honestly, we could do with a lot more conversation around Indian seaweed at the moment,” he adds.
Aragma in Pune also uses the seaweed from The Good Ocean, to create their tribute to the Kolhapuri Pandhra Rassa. In this version, the dish is a street-style snack where a puffed cracker is stuffed with a pineapple chutney made in-house, fresh chunks of sweet lime, a pickled Bhavnagri chilli, and then garnished with lemon and chive, and seaweed.
Photo Credit: Aragma
At Inja, Delhi’s first Indian-Japanese restaurant, Nori is used in sushi, to make chutney and in the chef’s take on Palak Paneer. Another interesting dish that the restaurant is currently experimenting with, is a nori ice cream.
“We use kombu to cure the Baramundi for Papad Achar and okinamasu, which is actually a fish tartare dish with fermented mango achar and shitake papad. We also use seaweed in our Japanese Bhel and the stock for our Pandhra Rasa Ramen,” says Adwait Anantwar, who helms Inja. “We also use kombu to make some of our in-house tsukemono, which are Japanese pickles. Some other seaweeds like wakame can be pickled and consumed on their own,” he explains.
According to Totlani, one of the reasons why despite being healthy and good for the environment, Indians haven't taken to seaweed in a greater way is probably its perceived fishy smell. “Despite seaweed being a vegetarian ingredient, many people go by its smell which reminds them of fish, and hence, form an association with seafood. However, what we call the ‘fishy’ smell is all a part of the sea’s saltiness and salinity. Convincing people to eat seaweed can be challenging sometimes.”
Brehadeesh has a similar view. “The main reason seaweed isn’t as popular in India yet is because we haven’t acquired a taste for the sea-smelling, slimy greens. Most Indian languages have words for them that don’t sound very appetising. For example, "shewal" in Marathi translates to moss. Even during my time as a high school exchange student in Japan, my first encounter with nori as a side to rice for breakfast left me puzzled. It took multiple exposures for me to develop a taste for it and begin to enjoy it. Even now, I haven’t acquired a taste for tororo-kombu, a floss-like product derived from kombu fibers.” he says.
