This Japanese style silverbeet recipe with blanched silverbeet tossed in sesame and miso is a delicious side that can be made ahead! Made with just a handful of ingredients, it is delicious with fish, meats, tofu and noodles!
With the vegetable patch full of silverbeet (also known as chard to my American friends), we are enjoying an array of silverbeet recipes. From this Spanish inspired Spinach with chickpeas, to Greek inspired Silverbeet and Feta pie and Italian silverbeet pie.
This particular silverbeet recipe is inspired by our time living in Japan. The simple sesame miso dressing is made from a handful of ingredients including salty miso paste which adds extra depth with its unami flavour. The blanched silverbeet is combined with this flavoursome dressing and then left to sit for an hour, in which time the silverbeet soaks up all that flavour!
Ingredients Notes And Substitutions:
Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for ingredient quantities.
- Silverbeet: also known as chard. You can also use rainbow chard in this recipe – as you will see from the photos!
- Soy sauce: or use tamari for a gluten free alternative.
- Rice vinegar: this is a mellow vinegar and I use it alot in cooking – especially when wanting to add it to dishes with kids in mind. If you don’t have rice vinegar, substitute half the amount of apple cider vinegar mixed with a splash of water.
- Miso paste: I use white miso paste in this recipe. It is readily available in Australia, and is the mildest miso paste.
- What is in white miso paste? It’s a mixture of soybeans with koji, a mould. White miso is aged for a shorter period of time than red or brown miso paste and is slightly sweeter and less pungent than other miso pastes. If you are looking for other recipes for miso paste, then have a look at this fresh and light peanut miso soup.
What is Japanese Sesame Dressing made of?
This Japanese dressing with toasted sesame seeds and miso paste reminds me so much of vegetable dishes we used to eat all the time in Japan. It’s salty, slightly pungent, rich and nutty and the touch of sugar makes all the difference!
It is a really simple sesame miso dressing to make: toast the sesame seeds to release their flavour (optional but definitely recommended) then;
- Grind the sesame seeds to a rough paste using a mortar and pestle.
- Add the soy sauce, miso, sugar, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar and mix well.
- You should be left with a thick sesame miso paste. The water from the silverbeet will thin it just enough to coat the blanched silverbeet.
FAQ
No. Silverbeet is in fact part of the beetroot family, and has larger leaves and thicker stalks than spinach.
Yes! The stems take a few minutes longer to cook than the leaves, but are edible – and delicious!
Recipe Tips:
- Toast the sesame seeds: This enhances their nutty flavour, which makes the sesame miso dressing even more flavourful. Keep an eye on them as they can burn easily!
- Don’t overcook the silverbeet/swiss chard/rainbow chard: Overcooking the silverbeet makes it lose its bright green colour. (If using rainbow silverbeet or rainbow chard you will lose the vibrant pink and yellow colour of the stalks too!)
- An alternative to a mortar and pestle: use a rolling pin on a wooden board to crush the sesame seeds. Then place them in a small bowl and mix in the soy, miso, sugar, sesame oil and vinegar, using the end of the rolling pin to gently mush them together.
- You can use this dressing on other greens, such as English spinach, turnip green, or mix it with green beans. Just don’t use baby spinach as it is too soft to hold the dressing.
More Winter Vegetable Recipes
Japanese silverbeet with sesame miso dressing
Author: Robyn
Ingredients
- 400g | 14oz silverbeet
- 4 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon rice wine vinegar
Instructions
Make the Japanese sesame dressing:
- Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan over a medium – high heat until light golden and toasted, around 2-3 minutes.
- Cool slightly then tip into a mortar and pestle and grind to a very rough paste (see image in above post for the consistency)
- Add the soy sauce, miso paste, sugar, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar and mix well.
- Place the dressing in a large mixing bowl.
Blanch the silverbeet/chard:
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil.
- Before you put the silverbeet in the water, make sure you have a large heatproof bowl full of ice cold water.
- Cut the stems off from the leaves and cut the stems into 3-4 cm 1.2" – 1.6" long pieces.
- Place the the stems in the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the leaves (no need to cut unless they are very big – just cut them in half if need to.)
- Cook for 1-2 minutes more.
- Lift the silverbeet out with a slotted spoon and place into the iced water straight away to stop it from cooking.
- Leave in the ice water for 2-3 minutes.
- Transfer the cool silverbeet with a slotted spoon to the miso sesame dressing.
- Mix to coat the silverbeet in the dressing. There should be enough water from the chard to thin the sauce ever so slightly, but if it seems too dry, then add a teaspoon of water at a time.
- Best when kept in the fridge for ½-2 hours before serving, but you can also eat it straight away!
Notes
Nutrition
HAVE YOU MADE THIS RECIPE?
I’d love to see your creation!
Or just leave a comment below!
Jon says
Hi. Could I serve this hot?
Robyn says
Hi yes you can serve it hot. I would recommend serving it straight away to avoid the silverbeet / chard from overcooking and losing it’s bright green colour. Hope this helps 🙂 Robyn