Japanese Carrot Ginger Dressing
If you’ve ever eaten at a traditional teishoku-style Japanese restaurant, you have probably eaten this dressing on their side salads. It’s a simple dressing that can be made in less than 5 minutes with minimal ingredients required. Although this dressing is usually used for salad, it is also amazing on cooked proteins such as tofu, meat, or fish (if those are part of your diet).
My version of this dressing starts with emulsifying the vinegar, miso, and honey first to bond with the oils. This additional step will ensure that the dressing doesn’t separate in the refrigerator as leftovers.
Cook time: 5 minutes | Makes: 1 cup of dressing
Ingredients:
2 medium-sized carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
¼ white onion, roughly chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
1.5 tbsp honey or maple syrup or white sugar
1 tbsp miso paste
1 tsp sesame oil
½ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup olive oil or avocado oil
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
Instructions:
Emulsify the liquids by adding rice vinegar, miso, honey together first. To do this, whisk the ingredients together vigorously for 30 seconds, then wait and repeat until it's combined.
Next, combine oils and slowly drizzle them into the vinegar miso honey mixture until the consistency is smooth and thickened. This will ensure it doesn't separate in the fridge overtime.
Add onion, carrots, ginger, and salt with the liquid mixture into a blender or food processor and blend again until everything is smooth and there are no chunks.
Eat this dressing with any salad choosings of your choice. I like to eat this with lettuce or spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, red cabbage, and edamame.
NOTE: If you are using maple syrup or sugar instead of honey, do NOT emulsify it with the liquids in the first step as it will not help bind the ingredients. Add it into the blender with the rest of the ingredients at the end.