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A jar of bright orange carrot and ginger dressing beside a simple green salad heavily coated in it, with fresh ginger and a spoon of pale miso
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Sauce Japanese Asian Vegan Vegetarian

Miso ginger sesame dressing

The bright orange dressing from every Japanese restaurant salad, which is mostly carrot and gets its savoury weight from miso rather than from oil. Vegan, keeps a week, and it is the one dressing here that people ask about.

Prep10 min
0 0
Servings10
Cook mode

The Japanese-American restaurant salad dressing, miso-led

Ingredients

Units
Temperature
Servings
10

Dressing

  • 150 g carrot, roughly chopped; it is the body of the dressing
  • 50 g white miso, shiro miso, the sweet pale kind, not the dark red
  • 30 g fresh ginger, peeled, and more than looks sensible
  • 60 ml rice vinegar
  • 60 ml neutral oil
  • 20 ml toasted sesame oil, a small amount, because it dominates quickly
  • 60 ml water
  • 15 g maple syrup, or a mild honey, which is not vegan
  • 1 shallot

Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.

Method

  1. Blend the carrot, ginger, shallot and miso together first, with the vinegar, until as fine as it will go.
  2. Add both oils and the water and blend again briefly.
  3. Taste and adjust the honey. Carrots vary a lot in sweetness and this is the only correction it usually needs.

Notes

  • Miso instead of soy sauce is the choice that matters. Soy is thin and salty; miso is thick, savoury and slightly sweet, and it emulsifies. It is why the dressing clings instead of running off.
  • White miso only. Red and brown misos are far stronger and turn the dressing muddy brown and aggressively salty.
  • The carrot is structural. It is not a garnish or a colouring; it is what gives the dressing body without a cup of oil.
  • It keeps a week and separates slightly. Shake it.
  • For gluten-free, check the miso. Many are made with barley. Rice-based shiro miso is the gluten-free one.

Ingredient substitutions

  • White miso is widely available in Germany in Asian shops and increasingly in supermarkets. There is no real substitute; tahini plus a little soy gets somewhere adjacent but is a different dressing.
  • Rice vinegar can be cider vinegar at three quarters of the volume, being sharper.

Sources consulted

Good with

Sources consulted

From Christoph Mayer

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