Dressed in a savory and nutty sesame sauce, Broccolini Gomaae is a delicious vegetable side dish that goes well with everything. You‘ll only need 15 minutes from start to finish to prepare this easy Japanese salad.
When I plan out the meals for the week, usually I can choose the main dishes fairly quickly but the challenging part is always the side dish(es) for me. If you are stuck with making the same the side dishes too often, I hope you’ll try this easy and appetizing Broccolini Gomaae (ブロッコリーニの胡麻和え).
Gomaae (pronounced “go-maa-e”) literally means “dressed in sesame sauce” in Japanese. The nutty, sweet, and savory sesame sauce enhances the flavor of blanched or steamed green vegetables.
When blanched spinach is dressed in sesame sauce, it’s Spinach Gomaae (Horenso no Gomaae). When green beans are dressed in sesame sauce, it’s Green Bean Gomaae (Ingen no Gomaae).
I created this dish out of an accident. I was going to make Green Bean Gomaae, but I realized that my green beans went bad already. Then I found a big bag of organic broccolini from Costco in the fridge and thought I’d use it instead. Broccolini and gomaae complemented each other really well and it’s been one of our favorite side dishes since. You can also make this same dish with regular broccoli.
Broccolini is a green vegetable similar to broccoli, but it has smaller florets and longer thin stalks. I didn’t know this until researching for this post but broccolini was originally developed in Yokohama, Japan (my home!) in the early ’90s (source). The end result is a hybrid of broccoli and Chinese broccoli. If you love broccoli or Chinese broccoli, you’ll love this veggie. It has the texture of Chinese broccoli but without the bitter taste, more similar to the flavors of regular broccoli.
It has lots of vitamin C, and also contains vitamin A, calcium, and iron. The stems are very soft and you can eat the entire vegetable!
It takes less than 15 minutes to prepare from start to finish and I can usually cook it while I prepare the main dish. It’s fast to cook, delicious and healthy! Hope this will become one of the popular side dishes for you and your family as well.
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Broccolini Gomaae
Video
Ingredients
- ½ lb broccolini
- ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 3 Tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Rinse ½ lb broccolini in running water. Cut and discard the ends.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. When boiling, add ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and put the ends of the broccolini first into the boiling water and then submerge the rest of broccolini. Boil for 2 minutes.
- Remove the broccolini and soak in iced water to cool.
- Pick up a few bunches of broccolini and squeeze the water out. Place them in a clean bowl.
- Add 3 Tbsp toasted white sesame seeds in a large frying pan and toast them until a few sesame seeds start popping, about 1½ minutes. Toss the frying pan while toasting so sesame seeds won’t get burnt.
- Transfer the toasted sesame seeds into a Japanese-style grooved mortar and grind with a Japanese-style pestle until the texture becomes smooth.
- Add 1 Tbsp sugar and 1 Tbsp soy sauce to crushed the sesame seeds and mix well.
- Mix the sesame sauce with the broccolini and serve at room temperature or chilled.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer for 3 weeks.
This is such a good recipe! I make this all the time now! We love it on the side of other dishes, or even just to eat as a snack! Even my 4 year old, who is going through a picky phase with vegetables, eats seconds and thirds of it whenever I make it!
Hi Lady! Aww. We are so happy to hear your 4-year-old enjoyed Broccolini Gomaae too!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing the joy with us.
OMGOSH didn’t have broccolini so used regular broccoli – my family inhaled this! It was soooooo good! Served it with the garlic onion chicken recipe, rice and wakame salad. SOOOOO GOOD!
Hi Christine! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed this dish!
It’s been my husband’s favorite side dish for a long time. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Hi Remelem, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear this dish has been your husband’s favorite side dish!🥰
Thanks for this! I was gifted with something called さつまなる Satsumanaru from my neighbors. They told me how to make it, but your recipe refines it, It took me a while to find it, but it’s the Japanese equivalent of broccoli rabe or rapini. I can’t believe how delicious it is! As a cold salad or a hot vegetable, you can’t go wrong.
Hi Barbara! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us!
We are so happy to hear it turned out delicious! Happy Cooking!
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Where did you purchase your mortar and pestle set?
Hi Mona! I got them in Japan (the bigger mortar I have in other recipe is from my mom), but Amazon and online stores sell them too. 🙂
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Is there a reason you boil the broccolini and squeeze out the water rather than steaming? I have seen this step often and always wondered.
Hi MPaula! Sure! You can definitely steam it if you like. In my experience, you can keep the green really nice and fresh color when you blanch it in salt water (salt is important in blanching veggies – it brings/keeps the color of vegetables). Hence, we tend to blanch. Hope this helps! 🙂
Really really yummy. Mechya mechya yummy.
Haha Arigato for your kind feedback, Judy! 🙂
Hi! I’ve made your spinach gomaae before and thought it was super tasty! I would like to make a batch of the dressing and store it for later use, is that possible?
Kind regards,
Rebecca 🙂
Hi Rebecca! I’m so happy to hear you like the gomaae sauce! The dressing should last 4-5 days in the fridge as long as you don’t mix with other ingredients. 🙂
It has certainly been a while since I’ve had broccolini… Seems like a good time to revisit the veggie. Thanks for sharing the recipe, and I’m so glad that you and your family have returned safely to the states. I can’t wait to see your newest inspirations through your future posts!
Thank you Kimmi! The first week is always tough missing family and our life in Japan but next week should be better! I think I had broccolini most this year because of this gomaae dish. =P
I’ve made this before with regular broccoli–broccolini looks so cute!
I’m glad you and your family had a safe return to SF, too!
Hi Donna! We like broccoli too! Thank you so much for your kind words!!