Citrus furikake

This a Japanese seasoning traditionally sprinkled on rice but I imagine it would go on many things – steamed spinach with a dash of sesame oil, avocado, salads and a plain old hot buttered toast.  I tripped over it when I was trying to find something edible to do with mandarin rind (I also used a little lemon peel left over when making lemon marmalade). It has an amazing flavour profile.

First dry your peel. Remove as much pith as possible and then dry in which ever is your favourite way – oven, dehydrator, air.  I chose the latter. It took a few days but the heavenly aroma of the mandarin oil was preserved.

Ingredients
3 x 20 cm sq sheets of nori
1/2 cup white sesame seeds
1/2 cup black sesame seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds or substitute
2 Tbsp dried citrus peel
2 tsp flaky salt
1 1/2 tsp cardamom seeds (from ~20 pods)
1 tsp sugar (optional)

Method
Heat oven to 165°C
* Toast the sheets of nori for about five minutes. Remove, allow to cool, and crumble into tiny flakes. I crushed by hand and then gave them a short blitz (avoid going to powder).
* Arrange the sesame seeds on a baking sheet. Place in the oven and toast until the white seeds are golden. Alternatively use my quick way, fry them in a dry pan but don't take your eyes off them! Remove from pan, spread out on a plate and allow to cool.
* Blitz the citrus peel until it is course grain – size is a matter of personal choice but don’t reduce it to powder. 
* Remove the little black seeds from each cardamom pod and crush into a fine powder using a mortar and pestle (don’t worry if they’re not black they’ll still taste OK).
|* Combine the nori, sesame seeds, flax seeds, citrus peel, salt, sugar (if using), and cardamom pods in a bowl. Stir well and store in an airtight container until ready to use.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Chook’s note:  I didn’t have flax seeds (and don’t particularly like them) so I used nigella seeds instead - good flavour. You can use a single citrus or a mix of citrus peel in this recipe. The origin Japanese version dried fish (like bonito flakes)
My one largish mandarin made a 200gm jar.