Quick, safe and convenient Nori Shredder

Whether it's something a simple as a bowl of rice or a serving of cold soba noodles, a delicious accent on seafood rice bowls or katsudon (pork cutlet and egg on rice) or a flavorful seasoning in a healthy Japanese tofu salad, shredded roasted nori seaweed is a great topping on many of the tastiest Japanese dishes.

© Grape Shop

It's also an amazing topping on Japanese style pasta dishes like the ones we introduce below!

If you want shredded nori, you can sometimes buy pre-shredded nori products, but these aren't always available in the Asian food corner or Asian markets outside of Japan. Sheets of nori, often called sushi nori, however, are more commonly available.

So how do you get from a sheet of nori to shredded nori? If you have this Nori Shredder, you can turn nori sheets into shredded nori in no time flat.

© Grape Shop

Check out the Nori Shredder at grape SHOP.

(We use WorldShopping Global. The grape SHOP page is in Japanese, but if you see the WorldShopping widget appear at the bottom of the page, that product can be shipped overseas)

Just set your sheet of nori into the shredder, turn the handle, and you can easily make shredded nori that's thin and perfectly-shaped.

© Grape Shop

If you're starting with full nori sheets, you should cut them in half, which can be easily accomplished by folding them and then pressing on the crease. If you have half sheets, they're ready to use and will fit in the shredder.

The top and bottom cases and the two rollers can be disassembled for easy cleaning. The rollers efficiently shred the nori, but they aren't made of metal, so it's safe to handle and safe to wash.

Here are all the parts:

© Grape Shop

Many people who try to make shredded nori with kitchen scissors give up and just end up shredding the nori by hand since it's such a bother, but with the Nori Shredder, you'll have perfectly shaped shredded nori in no time and with very little effort.

Product Information

  • Name: Nori Shredder
  • Dimensions: H 37 mm x W 156 mm x D 70 mm
  • Material: ABS resin

Check out the Nori Shredder at grape SHOP.

(We use WorldShopping Global. The grape SHOP page is in Japanese, but if you see the WorldShopping widget appear at the bottom of the page, that product can be shipped overseas)


Hands on with the Nori Shredder

We took the Nori Shredder home and tried it ourselves:

The important thing is to use roasted but unseasoned nori. Seasoned nori may not produce clean strips and the seasoning may eventually compromise the shredder's smooth operation.

Once we had our roasted nori sheets prepared, it was a cinch to place them in the shredder, turn the knob and begin making shredded nori.

We had all the shredded nori we needed in no time flat.

If you're going to use shredded nori in a recipe, for freshness, we recommend shredding when you cook instead of pre-shredding and storing the shredded nori.


Here's a great recipe you can make with ingredients usually available outside of Japan:

Soy butter pasta with bacon, king oyster mushrooms and roasted nori topping

Ingredients

(Serves 2)

  • Spaghetti 150 g (5 oz)
  • King oyster (Eryngii) mushrooms: 2 large or 4 medium
  • Chives (Asatsuki chives in Japan): 4~5 stalks
  • Bacon: 4 strips
  • Garlic: 1 large clove
  • Butter: 3 tbsp
  • Exra virgin olive oil: 2 tbsp
  • Soy sauce: 2~3 tbsp (depending on sodium level of soy sauce)
  • Salt, to taste
  • 2 whole sheets of roasted, unseasoned nori, shredded with the Nori Shredder

1. Coarsely mince garlic, mince 2 chives and leave the rest aside, cut bacon into 1 inch-wide strips, and cut king oyster mushrooms length-wise into 1/4 to 1/3 inch-thick strips.

2. Prepare spaghetti according to directions on package, stopping one minute before the recommended boiling time (very al dente). Reserve some of the cooking water.

3. In a large deep frying pan, heat olive oil on medium high heat and cook garlic until sightly golden, then turn down heat to medium.

4. Add mushrooms, and bacon and cook until mushroom slices are softened and just beginning to brown.

5. Return heat to medium high, add soy sauce.

6. Add butter and stir until fully melted, then cook for an additional minute. Adjust taste with salt if needed.

7. Stir in cooked spaghetti, and blend spaghetti with sauce and ingredients well. If the spaghetti is too dry, add some of the cooking water and blend more. Add chopped chives and blend again.

8. Serve spaghetti, and top with shredded nori just before serving. Decorate with chive stalk and serve.


Overcome the limits of pre-shredded nori products

If you live in Japan, or if you're able to procure top-quality roasted nori sheets, another advantage of the Nori Shredder is being able to enjoy premium nori in your cooking. Although there are excellent quality pre-shredded nori products, the very best roasted nori is only available in sheets. Using the Nori Shredder, you'll be able to take advantage of such nori products. The aroma and flavor of premium nori really makes a difference.

For example, we used a nori made by Chōhō Shokuhin Co. (潮宝食品株式会社) harvested from the Ariake Sea and blessed by Shinto priests at Kunōzan Tōshōgū Shrine in Shizuoka Prefecture.

The umami-rich flavor of this nori was a truly exceptional accent on this sea urchin cream pasta:

Of course, you could shred nori by hand or just try to cut it up with kitchen scissors, but the fine shreds of the Nori Shredder allows the nori to blend quickly into your dishes, and they look good too!

Check out the Nori Shredder at grape SHOP.

(We use WorldShopping Global. The grape SHOP page is in Japanese, but if you see the WorldShopping widget appear at the bottom of the page, that product can be shipped overseas)


By - Ben K.