Japan
Wafu Pasta
Japanese-style spaghetti with chirimenjako or shirasu (baby sardines) and buttery shimeji
20 min·2 servings
aonori
Dried, finely crumbled green seaweed, scattered over dishes as bright green flakes. Savoury and fresh, tasting of the sea with a grassy note.
Aonori is dried green seaweed, usually ground into fine flakes or a coarse powder. It has a pronounced smell of the sea that is at the same time fresh and slightly grassy, and it is far more aromatic and brighter in flavour than dark sheets of nori. Because the flakes are so fine and the aroma is fleeting, it is scattered over hot food only at the very end, typically on okonomiyaki, takoyaki, fried noodles or potato dishes, where the heat releases its fragrance. You can find aonori in Asian grocery shops in small bags or shaker jars, and by mail order. Once opened it quickly loses colour and aroma, so keep it airtight, cool and dark.
Substitute:
There is no true equivalent. Finely crumbled, briefly toasted nori provides the taste of the sea, but it is darker, less fragrant, lacks the grassy freshness and stays slightly chewier; the dish will taste more of sushi sheet than of aonori.
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