Seaweed

Layering salmon between sheets of kombu is an easy way to gently cure it, drawing in salt and umami-depth.

Sticky rice is worth using for this porridge-y, comforting chicken soup recipe; it releases lots of creamy starches and helps builds nice body as it cooks.

This green pesto owes its intense and powerful flavor to the use of kombu. It’s such an easy recipe that you can experiment with the ingredients as much as you like. The arugula and basil, for instance, can be substituted with any leafy green of your choice. And the pine nuts can be replaced by any other type of nut, such as cashews or hazelnuts. You can even use sunflower seeds! Serve the pesto on crackers, on a grilled vegetable sandwich, or with a bowl of pasta.

Sometimes all your body wants is a vacation from intense eating. That's where this feel-good (but fill-you-up) broth comes in.

A robust soup brimming with mixed vegetables and protein in a rich dashi broth, this one-pot stew is eaten by Japanese wrestlers in training. It’s wonderfully hearty without being heavy.

This is the kind of healthy, satisfying food that we all wish would simply materialize at home for dinner. But making it in parts is easier than you might think!

Try this as a dip, on crackers with smoked fish, or over hard-boiled eggs.

The base for countless dishes in Japanese cooking. This method requires just 30 minutes to soak the kombu, unlike some that call for overnight soaking.

Pro tip: Viva brand paper towels are used at Rintaro specifically for insulating the cod from its salty cure and will absorb moisture without falling apart.

These spiced-up dinner bowls feature rice noodles, kale salad, and a deeply flavorful poached chicken.

The type of fish you use is less important than its quality. Black bass, striped bass, and fluke all translate well; ask your fish guy for what's freshest.

Herbaceous and packed with fiber and protein, this grain salad is a keeper.

This lightly pickled mix of vegetables and seaweed is especially good with seafood.

This light but richly flavored broth is good with any fatty, skin-on fish fillet, such as Arctic char or sea bass.

It might seem fussy to separate the vegetables when pickling, but if they're combined, the colors will bleed and they won't be as vibrant.

Chef Kenney says that combining the herbs for the salsa verde with seaweed really gives this dish "that fresh-from- the-sea flavor." In Oahu, he uses just harvested limu, but hijiki, which is widely available, works well, too.

Benefits: Heart + Metabolism My mother innovated constantly to satisfy her two sons' demanding palates, so she adapted quinoa with brown rice to make one of our all-time favorite foods: sushi. Once called "Inca Gold" due to its stamina-building properties, quinoa contains all the essential amino acids, rendering it a complete protein food. Its high manganese content supplies the body's production of superoxide dismutase, an enzyme that protects against free radical damage to your energy factory. Consider this an energizing longevity recipe!

When the heat is on, there’s no better way to cool down than with a bowl of chilled noodles. To make this truly vegetarian and vegan friendly, seek out a ponzu sauce without dashi, an ingredient made with dried fish. Two brands worth considering are Marukan and Wan Ja Shan. For die-hard meat eaters, add some thin slices of cold beef.