Japanese Spinach with Sweet Sesame Seeds

I OMITTED THE BROWN SUGAR AND ALSO USED SOY SAUCE. I PUT ONE TABLESPOON OF WATER IN PAN THEN THE SPINACH TO WILT DOWN A BIT THEN ADDED THE SESAME SEEDS CRUSHED WITH THE OIL. CAME OUT GREAT. TWO OF MY FAVORITES. SESAME SEEDS AND SPINACH.

I'm sorry to say this was disappointing. It sounded delicious, but it ended up lacking flavor. For me, the sweetness just didn't go well with the spinach; it needed some saltiness, such as soy sauce, to balance it out. Plus, cooking the spinach in sesame oil seems to be a waste, because I couldn't taste it. I think it would work better to wilt the spinach in a dry skillet and add the sesame oil at the end for flavoring. Unfortunately, even the ground sesame seeds didn't work well: They ended up getting soggy sitting on the sauteed spinach. My boyfriend, who loves spinach, didn't care for this, either. I think this might be better, with some modifications, either baked or as a salad. Thanks anyway.

I made some adjustments based on others' comments and we LOVED this dish! I wilted the spinach in 1 tbsp EACH of soy sauce and water. Once wilted, I added a dash of garlic powder, onion powder, and fresh ground pepper to the remaining liquid in the pan. Then I added the sesame seed oil and sesame seeds. Very good!

I made this with asparagus and it was a hit. Be generous with the sesame seeds, and don't skip the mortar and pestle step.

Great as a burger topping!

I honestly don't even know how to rate this because while reading the recipe, I loved the whole sesame oil and seed thing; however, the sugar totally turned me off and I knew that my family would not be pleased with sweet spinach. I replaced the sugar with soy sauce and added garlic and onion powders and black pepper. With these changes we all thought it was a fantastic side. Thank you for a great starting point!

This is very oriental and I know its close to how koreans prepare the spinach for every meal. I changed a few things, I added soy sauce and changed the amounts of everything. Grinding up the sesame seeds is Not necessary though =) Easy side item!

Picky husband loved it - what more needs to be said!

Easy, and very tasty. I had trouble with the sugar - it didn't melt until I mixed it in with the spinach. Had I known that I wouldn't have let the spinach wilt any further while I tried to melt the sugar.

I thought this was a 1 star, but my husband did like it ok. The sugar completely doesn't go with the spinach. I should have known that the sesame oil shouldn't be added at the beginning - sesame oil isn't a good oil to cook with because it loses its flavor with cooking. Like someone else said, it was missing salt. I put some on at the end. Still was way too sweet for my liking. Eatible I wouldn't make this again.

I made this once and it wasn't great. The second time I added some soy sauce and replaced the sugar with plain Splenda. I used 1 TBS of sesame oil (on the pan) for wilting the spinach, then added 1/2 TBS in the process of wilting, and reserve the rest and added it after i turned the pan off. It was much better this way. I may have used less spinach since I was cooking for 2.

I liked this recipe, but it isn't super-different from other sauteed spinach recipes. I halved the oil. My husband loved it.

Loved this recipe. super easy to make too!

Reminds me of my grandmother's spinach dish.

Very good but perhaps a bit too sweet.....

to sweet but good

Was a good spinach recipe with an Asian twist.

This recipe is much like the traditional side dish in Japan. We usually cook ours without sugar, so this was a little interesting. Good flavor though: with and without the sugar.

Omitting a star because of the sugar. I don't always like sweet greens. But other than that this recipe is really nice and I like to use it for topping noodles or ramen.

A simple dish that usually goes with white rice. Used solely as a side dish, nothing more.