Great Goma: Popular Japanese Dishes Made with Sesame

Traditionally, sesame (goma) was added to dishes by first grinding it by hand in a ceramic mortar called a . Cooks today, though, have an array of ready-made varieties to choose from, ranging from whole and crushed roasted sesame seeds to thick and savory goma pastes. Whether prepared fresh or prepackaged, though, these seeds appear in the representative Japanese dishes described below.

Goma-dōfu

This rich and creamy dish is said to have originated as a form of shōjin ryōri, vegan Buddhist cuisine, at Mount Kōya, a center for Buddhism in Wakayama. White or black sesame is pounded into a paste, combined with water and kuzu powder, and heated until thick. Once cool, it is cut into squares and served with various toppings.

Goma-dōfu. (Courtesy the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries)

Goma-shio

A savory and salty mixture of toasted black sesame seeds and roasted sea salt used to top rice.

Goma-shio (left) is widely commercially available and enhances rice dishes like sekihan, a celebratory dish made of glutinous rice with adzuki. (© PhotoAC)

Goma-ae (goma yogoshi)

(© Pixta)

Aemono is one of the most basic types of Japanese cuisine, consisting of cooked vegetables in a savory or tangy sauce. Goma-ae is made with spinach or a similar leafy vegetable dressed with black or white sesame seeds or sesame paste and flavored simply with soy sauce and sugar.

Daigaku imo

This popular sweet snack of candied satsumaimo is made by deep-frying chunks of sweet potato until they are crunchy on the outside and soft inside. These are covered in a sweet, sticky syrup and garnished with black sesame seeds.

(© PhotoAC)

Goma-dare

A rich and creamy sesame dipping sauce used for shabu shabu and other hotpot (nabe) dishes. Nutty and full of umami, it is also popular as a dressing on salads and splashed over vegetables.

(© Pixta)

Anpan

Japan’s first snack bread, anpan is stuffed with sweet adzuki paste, either smooth koshian or coarse tsubuan, and topped with a pinch of black sesame seeds. (Koshian varieties are also sometimes also garnished with poppy seeds.)

(© Pixta)

Goma senbei

These fragrant and flavorful rice crackers are made by adding black sesame seeds to pounded rice, with the amount of sesame used shaping the flavor and even the color of the senbei.

Goma senbei range from lightly seasoned crackers (at left; © PhotoAC) to dark-colored versions rich in sesame flavor (© Pixta).

Nanbu senbei

These crackers hail from northern Iwate Prefecture and the area around Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture. Made with just salt, wheat flour, and water, they are flavored with black sesame seeds or other seasonings and baked thin in a special round mold until crispy.

Popular varieties of nanbu senbei include peanut and black sesame. (© PhotoAC)

Goma ohagi

Ohagi are seasonal sweets enjoyed during Higan, times around the spring and autumn equinoxes when people customarily visit family graves. Also known as botamochi, they are made from glutinous rice covered in sweet toppings like adzuki paste or soybean powder (kinako), as well as a fragrant layer of crushed black sesame seeds.

(© Photo AC)

Goma an

Made from black sesame, this rich-flavored and fragrant paste features as a topping and filling for different sweets, including smothered over skewered dango.

Skewered rice dumplings slathered in goma an (foreground) and other toppings. (© Photo AC)

(Originally published in Japanese. Text by Ecraft. Banner photo: Spinach salad with sesame dressing. © Pixta.)