Ingredients
|
1 pound of ogo, fresh as you can get
½ of a yellow or Maui onion, thinly sliced into strings Hawaiian salt, ideally the red kind |
Ogo Sauce
3-4 stalks green onion, finely chopped (green part only) 1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1T sesame oil ¼ cup shoyu ¼ cup raw (turbinado) sugar or loose-packed brown sugar ⅓ cup Japanese vinegar 1T roasted sesame seeds About ½t dried red pepper flakes |
What To Do
Add water to a pasta pot with a little Hawaiian salt and start it boiling. While this is happening, chop the onion and set it aside in a bowl. Then chop the green onions and garlic.
In a separate bowl, mix the sauce ingredients and set aside,
When the water is at a full rolling boil, put all the ogo and stir it quickly (my Dad says with chopsticks), until it turns green. This will happen fast only a few seconds. Take it out immediately and rinse in cold running water. Dad says this is the key to keeping ogo crunchy.
Otherwise it will melt into mush and sadness. Trust me on this.
Put put a layer of ogo into the bottom of the jars, then some white onion slices and repeat until the jars are a little more than 3/4 full. Pour sauce evenly across however many jars you use. I use Mason jars. It won't look like a lot of sauce, but the ogo and onions will reduce down a bit. Cover tightly and refrigerate. Every so often, turn the closed jar upside and try to swirl gently to get a uniform marinade throughout the jar.
Tastes best after it sits in the sauce overnight, but this is not required. We have been known to eat it immediately.
In a separate bowl, mix the sauce ingredients and set aside,
When the water is at a full rolling boil, put all the ogo and stir it quickly (my Dad says with chopsticks), until it turns green. This will happen fast only a few seconds. Take it out immediately and rinse in cold running water. Dad says this is the key to keeping ogo crunchy.
Otherwise it will melt into mush and sadness. Trust me on this.
Put put a layer of ogo into the bottom of the jars, then some white onion slices and repeat until the jars are a little more than 3/4 full. Pour sauce evenly across however many jars you use. I use Mason jars. It won't look like a lot of sauce, but the ogo and onions will reduce down a bit. Cover tightly and refrigerate. Every so often, turn the closed jar upside and try to swirl gently to get a uniform marinade throughout the jar.
Tastes best after it sits in the sauce overnight, but this is not required. We have been known to eat it immediately.
Notes
- When I was a kid, my Dad picked ogo off Kahala. He'd come home, clean it by hand, make the sauce, and package it up in recycled peanut butter jars that were saved specifically for this purpose.
- The aquaculture route is how I get ogo now. In Hawaii, you can can buy fresh, pre-cleaned bags at stores like Don Quijote, Foodland, and even Marukai.
- I'm super happy that I've found Monterey Bay Seaweeds that will deliver to my front door. They also ship.
- For scientific info, check out the University of Hawaii's page.