Braised Tot(hijiki seaweed)

7 min readMar 26, 2023

….Tot, also known as tot in Korean, is a brown, wild seaweed that is commonly found on the coastlines around Korea. It has proven health benefits that make tot such a great addition to everything. First of all, tot is very high in fiber and it also contains a large amount of essential vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin K, iron, calcium, iodine, and magnesium. If you didn’t grow up eating them, sea vegetables can be challenging. But tot, a black or dark brown seaweed is commonly eaten in Korea and it’s hand-harvested in the spring, then usually dried before being packaged. Most tot has been dried twice, once in the sun before rinsing and rehydrating, then steamed to remove bitterness. Today I got some fresh tot from a Korean market. So I parboiled them for 2 minutes before braising it. This recipe is from @mrs_macarons. I served braised tot with steamed rice after braising tot with pork, fried tofu, and konjac. Cook the braised tot to make healthy and flavorful rice. I found a really delicious new recipe and thank @mrs_macarons for sharing this recipe.

Servings: 5

Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

360 g fresh tot, cleaned, parboiled and cut into small
250 g ground pork
2 tsp plum extract
2 tsp ginger juice
sea salt to taste
black pepper to taste
220 g konjac, julienned and parboiled
5 fried tofu, parboiled and sliced
2 red pepper, removed seeds and sliced
3 tbsp avocado oil
2 tbsp sake
2 tbsp muscovado
10 tbsp tzuyu
6 tbsp Mat-Gan-Jang
300 ml water
6 eggs
2 tsp Mirin

Cooking Instructions:

Put the ground pork into a tray and add the plum extract, ginger juice, some sea salt, and black pepper into the ground pork. Mix them well and set aside.

2. Clean the tot and sift them with a strainer.

3. Heat a pot with medium high heat and pour 6 cups water into the pot to boil. Parboil the tot into the pot for 2 minutes.

4. Heat a pot with medium high heat and pour 4 cups water into the pot to boil. Parboil the konjac into the pot for 1–2 minutes and sift them with a strainer and set aside.

5. Heat a pot with medium high heat and pour 4 cups water into the pot to boil. Parboil the fried tofu into the pot for 1 minute(remove some oil) and clean the fried tofu with cold water 1–2 times. Squeeze out the excess water of the fried tofu and slice them. Set aside.

6. Heat a pan with medium high heat and add 2 tbsp avocado oil and the marinated pork into the pan to stir them until cooked.

7. Add the fried tofu and konjac into the pan to stir them for 10 seconds.

8. Add the muscovado, sake, and the parboiled tot into the pan to stir for 1 minute.

9. Add the tzuyu, Mat-Gan-Jang, and water into the pan to simmer them for 20 minutes until the moisture is gone.

10. Add the red pepper into the pan to stir them for 1–2 minutes. Turn off the heat. Set aside.

11. To make egg strips: beat the eggs with a little salt and Mirin.

12. Heat up a pan with low heat and add 1 tbsp avocado oil(remove some oil with a paper towel, if it’s oily).

13. Pour the egg into the pan to spread thinly, turn off the heat and let it cook on the hot pan for 1 minute. Flip it over and let it sit on the pan for 1 more minute.