Skip Soy Sauce: Make Rice Taste Unforgettable With A Dollop Of This Japanese Condiment

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

When looking to add flavor to rice, many home cooks instinctively reach for soy sauce as if it were the only option. But while the fermented soybean seasoning is a classic pairing, it's far from the only choice. Next time you're looking for a deeply flavorful umami hit, try stirring in some seaweed paste instead. 

Part of the appeal of nori tsukudani (aka nori paste or seaweed paste) is that it brings a lot more than simple saltiness. Most commercially available seaweed pastes are blended with other ingredients such as soy sauce, sugar, yuzu, or mirin, giving them more complexity than soy sauce alone. In this form, all those briny, oceanic flavors are concentrated, so eating tsukudani with some properly washed and cooked fluffy rice lends the grains a notably robust aroma and flavor. Just one dollop of a product like Yamasan Kyoto Uji Nori Tsukudani Simmered Seaweed Paste is enough to season a whole bowl of hot, freshly cooked rice. The seaweed will bring its distinctive savory salinity alongside those other flavor-boosting ingredients, but if you'd prefer even more seaweed flavor, you can also grind plain nori sheets into a powder and sprinkle that on top.

Of course, we don't need to make too much of a case for this pairing — rice and seaweed have a long culinary history. Its most famous pairing outside of Japan is probably in sushi, where nori is used to wrap rice, fish, and vegetables, but it's a favorite combination in other aspects of Japanese cuisine, too. In fact, a traditional Japanese breakfast typically features a bowl of steamed rice eaten with sheets of nori, which you simply wrap around each bite. Mixing nori paste takes that familiar flavor combination and condenses it with other ingredients for a bolder flavor.

That intense flavor is really useful, especially on busy days when an elaborate meal is just not an option — a simple bowl of rice topped with nori paste makes a quick, easy starch base for lunch or dinner, which can then be paired with grilled fish, tofu, or any other protein. It also opens up the door to experiment with other Japanese-inspired rice toppings, such as a sprinkle of furikake, soft-boiled eggs with a jammy yolk, chopped scallions, smoky dried bonito flakes, and umeboshi (pickled plums).