Carrot ginger dressing

May 20, 2006 at 8:27 am (B plus (3.5 stars, like a lot), Cook's Illustrated, Japanese, Peter Berley, Quick weeknight recipe, Sauce/dressing)

This recipe is from the Angelica Kitchen cookbook. It’s quite similar to the carrot ginger dressing that you get in many Japanese restaurants.

1 Tbs. minced onion
2 tsp. minced ginger
1/4 tsp. mustard powder
1 cup grated carrots (This was two medium carrots for me)
2 tsp. soy sauce (or if you don’t have soy sauce you can use 1/4 tsp. kosher salt)
2 Tbs. apple juice or cider (I used 1.5 Tbs. water and 1/2 Tbs. Cascadian farms apple juice concentrate, which is way better than most frozen concentrates)
4 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
6 Tbs. olive oil (I used 4)
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend! (I just put in a tall beaker and used my stick blender for less mess).

I thought this tasted pretty close to the Japanese dressing, maybe a little more watery (although that’s my own fault for reducing the oil). But I would do it again since even with less oil it stil had a nice consistency, not *too* watery.

It was supposed to make 2 cups, but for me it made more like 1.25 cups I think, maybe since I cut down on the oil? Even so, each Tbs. has only 31 calories by my calculation. If you use the original amount of oil it will have 10 more calories per Tablespoon.

This dressing was marvelous on sliced cooled beets. It was also very tasty on steamed broccoli. I didn’t like it on grain croquettes, however, since the flavor overpowered the flavor of the croquettes.

Rating: B+
Derek: A-

I decided to try another variation of this recipe from the Cook’s Illustrated Best Light Recipe cookbook. The major difference between this recipe and the one above is it has fewer carrots, uses sugar instead of apple cider, rice vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar, has more sesame oil, way more sodium, and adds water to bulk it up.

• 1 Tbs. minced shallot or red onion
• 2.25 tsp. grated fresh ginger (I grated a little extra so just threw it in)
• 1.5 carrots, peeled and shredded (I left mine unpeeled, and grated it on the large holes of a box grater)
• 3 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce (not sure if mine was low sodium)
• 3/4 tsp. sugar
• 4.5 Tbs. rice vinegar
• 9 Tbs. water
• 6 Tbs. peanut or vegetable oil
• 2.25 tsp. toasted sesame oil
• 3/4 tsp. salt (I used 3/8 tsp.)
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper (I gave a few whirs of my pepper grinder)

Shake all of the ingredients together in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. The dressing can be refrigerated for up to 7 days; bring to room temperature, then shake vigorously to recombine before using. Makes about 1.5 cups, and has about 40 calories per Tbs. serving.

My Notes:

I made a big salad for two and added 3 Tbs. of the dressing. I wasn’t very happy with it. I found it a bit greasy, and very bland. I could barely taste the ginger or carrots, and it was nearly vinegar-y enough for me. I don’t really understand this, since the recipe above is quite similar and I like it much more? Also, this made a huge amount of dressing. I think I might only make 1/3 of the recipe in the future.