Suji-Aonori Cream Cheese Dip

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Mix with Suji-Aonori for a super easy nutritional cheese dip! Perfect for a quick treat or a drink companion too.

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Ingredients (for 2 people):

• Dried Suji-Aonori seaweed: as much as you like

• Cream cheese (slightly softened at room temperature): 80g

• Unsweetened yogurt (with its water content): 15g-20g

• Lemon juice (optional, if available): about 1/2 teaspoon

• Zucchini (sliced into 1cm pieces): 1/2

• Carrot (sliced into 1cm pieces): 1/2

• Olive oil: 1 tablespoon

• Salt: to taste

How to:

1. Place the cream cheese in a bowl and soften it with a rubber spatula. Gradually add yogurt (and lemon juice if desired) and mix until smooth.
2. Tear off the Suji-Aonori by hand, and mix it into the cream cheese mixture. Use about two handfuls of Suji-Aonori for the pictured amount. Add more if you prefer a greener dip.
3. In a frying pan (over low heat), add olive oil and garlic, and slowly infuse the flavor. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
4. Once you smell the roasted aroma of garlic, sauté the carrot slices for about 2 minutes on each side / sauté the zucchini slices with cross-hatch cuts for about 1 minute on each side (over medium heat) until they develop a golden color.
5. Lightly season the vegetables with salt if desired. If you add plenty of Suji-Aonori seaweed in step 2, adjust the saltiness of the vegetables accordingly. (It's okay to skip this step.)
6. Fill a deep dish like a cocotte with the dip while it's still soft. This recipe yields the perfect amount to fit a cocotte with a diameter of 6.5cm.
7. Arrange the carrots and zucchini slices on a flat plate, and serve with the cheese dip using a butter knife or similar utensil. Apart from grilled vegetables, you can also serve it with raw vegetables or baguette slices.