Japanese Carrot Ginger Dressing
There are loads of recipes for Japanese Steakhouse ginger dressings out there, and I’ve tried a lot of them… but unfortunately they always seemed to just be very slightly off to me and it drove me absolutely nuts since both myself and my husband love this salad dressing very much. I’ll admit, as a kid, I wasn’t so interested in it and would give my portion to my younger sister who would inhale the salads before we moved onto sushi or hibachi.
I was talking to my mom one day and lamented about the fact that I just couldn’t get it right, wasting ginger and carrots alike. While she didn’t know the exact recipe, she did mention a friend of her’s who owned a sushi restaurant told her that their secret ingredient was… oranges and pineapple! I excitedly went ahead and tried it, and by golly that was the missing piece!
The canned pineapple and fresh oranges gives the dressing enough sweetness that I don’t add any sugar, but you could always add either sugar or more reserved pineapple juice if you’d like. I usually add a tablespoon of miso for a deeper umami flavor, but you can skip it if you’d like.
There is another elusive Japanese salad dressing from my childhood (and I’ve only ever had it at one restaurant that has since changed ownership) I’ve been looking to recreate, made with daikon, but that will be another post for another day…
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup peanut oil
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup onion
- 1/2 cup carrot
- 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled
- 1/4 cup pineapple, canned
- 1/4 cup oranges, fresh and no skin
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 teaspoon miso
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Combine everything in the food processor until a smooth puree has formed.
- While the food processor is still running, slowly add the peanut oil to emulsify and avoid breaking the dressing.
- Taste and adjust sweetness with pineapple juice, or saltiness with salt to your liking.
- Allow to chill and combine flavors in the fridge for at least 20 minutes before serving.