Spinach in Sesame Sauce (Goma-ae)

Goma-ae (胡麻和え) is a Japanese technique of dressed vegetables: blanched spinach mixed with a thick sesame sauce. It is not a salad in the Western sense — more of a chilled side dish or appetizer. Japanese cooking focuses on texture, flavor balance, and minimal heat treatment.

This is called shock cooling — it stops the cooking instantly. The spinach stays vivid green and keeps a firm texture. Without cold water it continues cooking from residual heat, turns dark and mushy.

Mirin is sweet rice wine. Substitute: a drop of rice vinegar plus a teaspoon of sugar. Or simply skip it — the sauce will still be delicious, just slightly less sweet and complex.

Yes, but squeeze out the water very thoroughly — frozen spinach contains a lot of moisture that dilutes the sauce. Thawed spinach is already blanched, so skip the blanching step entirely.

The sesame sauce works with any blanched vegetable: green beans, broccoli, asparagus, carrot. This is a universal Japanese dressing. The classic is spinach, but Japanese home cooks use it on almost any vegetable.