• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Devour.Asia

Devour.Asia

Better Asian recipes for home cooks

  • Recipes
    • Cuisine
      • Chinese
      • Japanese
      • Korean
      • Thai
      • Vietnamese
      • Taiwanese
      • Filipino
      • Indonesian
      • Malaysian
      • South Asian
      • Fusion
      • Street Food
    • Ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Seafood
      • Meat
      • Rice & Grains
      • Noodles
      • Vegetables
      • Tofu
      • Mushrooms
      • Bread
      • Eggs
      • Fruits
    • Course
      • Breakfast
      • Snacks
      • Salads
      • Soups
      • Main Courses
      • Side Dishes
      • Sweets
      • Drinks
  • Kitchen
  • Stories
  • Cuisine
    • Chinese
    • Japanese
    • Korean
    • Thai
    • Taiwanese
    • Filipino
    • Indonesian
    • Malaysian
    • South Asian
    • Fusion
  • Main Ingredient
    • Poultry
    • Seafood
    • Meat
    • Rice & Grains
    • Noodles
      • Noodle Soups
      • Noodles Stir Fry
      • Instant Noodles (Ramen)
    • Vegetables
    • Mushrooms
    • Tofu
    • Bread
    • Eggs
    • Fruits
  • Course
    • Breakfast
    • Snacks
    • Salads
    • Soups
    • Main Courses
    • Side Dishes
    • Sweets
    • Drinks
  • Street Food
  • Kitchen Tales
  • Food Tales
  • About
  • Privacy
You are here: Home / All Recipes / Spinach and Shiitake Oshitashi with Goma-ae (Roasted Sesame Dressing)

Spinach and Shiitake Oshitashi with Goma-ae (Roasted Sesame Dressing)

Oshitashi is the name of the dish; goma-ae is the name of the sesame dressing.

Spinach and shiitake oshitashi

After two trips to Japan, I realized that oshitashi isn’t a spinach dish per se but, rather, a preparation that involves soaking and it can apply not just to spinach but to other vegetables too. The eggplant dish I made last year is actually an oshitashi.

I learned too that there is more than one way to make goma-ae. Some recipes include dashi among the ingredients while others call for a reduction of a mixture of dashi, soy sauce and sake. The simplest recipes for the sesame seed dressing simply require that soy sauce, mirin and sugar be mixed with toasted sesame seeds. I stand by my no-boiling-and-no-reduction goma-ae recipe but there’s a little extra about the sesame seeds that are stirred in.

Pair your spinach and shiitake oshitashi with goma-ae (roasted sesame dressing) with any fried or grilled dish like ebi tempura, yakitori or yakiton.

Spinach and Shiitake Oshitashi with Goma-ae (Roasted Sesame Dressing)

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
Easy to make and tasty as sin, spinach and shiitake oshitashi with goma-ae (roasted sesame dressing) is a Japanese side dish to delight everyone.
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 5 mins
Course Appetizer, Side Dish
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 4 people
Spinach and shiitake oshitashi in white bowl
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1 bag spinach or about two generous handfuls
  • 4 shiitake mushrooms thinly sliced
  • salt
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • 1 ½ tablespoons Japanese soy sauce I used Kikkoman
  • 1 ½ tablespoons mirin
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • sesame seed oil optional

Instructions
 

Blanch spinach and shiitake

  • Rinse the spinach well. If the stalks are rather large and tough, pick the leaves and discard the stalks. Otherwise, include the stalks in the dish and just roughly chop everything.
  • Boil water in a large pot and add a teaspoon of salt. Blanch the spinach for about a minute. Scoop out and drain (keep the water in the pot boiling).
  • Dump the spinach in a bowl of iced water. Drain. Squeeze out as much water as you can. Place in a bowl and set aside.
  • Dump the sliced shiitake in the boiling water, cook for a minute, drain well and toss with the cooled spinach.

Make the goma-ae

  • Dry toast the sesame seeds in a pan until nutty in aroma and glistening.
  • While the seeds are hot, grind using a suribachi (a regular mortar and pestle will do but will require a longer time to grind).
    Grinding toasted sesame seeds in a suribachi, a Japanese mortar
  • Transfer half of the ground sesame seeds to a bowl and add the soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar and blend the flavors.

Assemble the oshitashi

  • Pour a tablespoon the dressing on the spinach and shiitake. Toss. Taste. Depending on how much spinach you have, you may need more than a tablespoonful of dressing. So, add more dressing, if needed.
  • Drizzle some sesame oil, if using and don't overdo it, and toss a few more times.
  • Top with the reserved sesame seeds and serve.
More Japanese cooking

Claypot Salmon Mushroom Rice

Clams miso soup with oyster mushrooms and scallions

Clams Miso Soup

Gyutan Katsu (Fried Breaded Beef Tongue) Recipe

Gyutan Katsu

Published: December 6, 2019 • Last modified: February 22, 2022 ♥ All Recipes, Japanese, Mushrooms, Side Dishes, Vegetables
Further Reading
Fried and skewered quail eggs. Tamsui Old Street, Taiwan

Quail Eggs in Asian Cuisines

Coffee class at The Yellow Chair, Saigon

How to Grade Coffee and Make Cà Phê Đá: A Coffee Class in Saigon

Popcorn in bowl

How to Cook Regular Popcorn in the Microwave

Sidebar

Experience Asia

At Balaw-balaw, a museum of wood sculptures

Interpreting Folk Art at Balaw-Balaw Museum

The Great Buddha Hall at the Tōdai-ji Temple Complex in Nara

At Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara, I Touched Buddha’s Nostril

Deers roaming freely in Nara Park

In Osaka, When You Ask for Directions, the Locals Won’t Just Point — They Will Walk You to Your Destination

Backpack made of hemp

Hemp, Local Artisans and Thoughtful Consumerism

Laguna de Bay

Laguna de Bay: You Don’t Pronounce “Bay” as in Manila Bay

  • About
  • Privacy
  • Archive

Except for the occasional stock photo and blockquote, everything © Devour Asia. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.