Two weeks, and I am still languishing after M’s return to Japan, vacillating in moments of idleness between feelings of fondness and gratitude and searing feelings of longing and loss. Writing about food in the immediate aftermath inevitably becomes a bittersweet contemplation of the evenings we spent together and the meals we shared.
It is a natural consequence of choosing a life centered around the experience of food, and its immortalization through the written word. We may choose not to write about them, but many of our personal dramas are baked into folds and layers of our subject matter. The kitchen is the nexus of many of my relationships, and the smells, flavours and textures that I create and experience within it are infused with the equally somatic experience of emotional memory.
This is one such dish. The memories it brings back are of a Saturday afternoon on a cold winter day, happily spent in the comfort of my kitchen, digging up pickled radishes from my rice bran bed, and making Japanese fried chicken. While the oil was warming up on the stove top, I threw together a simple green salad to accompany our deep-fried chicken, with a dressing I had prepared the eve.
The dressing for this salad is adapted from Wandering Tanuki‘s Japanese-Style Thousand Island Dressing. I liked the idea of using pureed vegetables to create a thick dressing. I also love the vibrant orange colour, produced not by any colouring agents, but thanks to the pigments in carrots, ginger, tomato and soy sauce, mixed with painterly artistry by my cheap blender! I altered the recipe so that it wouldn’t contain any additives or added sugars, by replacing sugar and ketchup with mirin, shio koji and tomato paste. I was also quite generous with the ginger, because that is what I do.
The recipe below will produce a lot more dressing than a single salad could hope to soak up, but the leftovers keep well in the fridge for a week or so. And trust me, you won’t have much trouble getting to the bottom of the jar before its expiry date! It tastes delicious on fish and meat as well.
Joëlle
Serves 2
A simple green salad covered with a thick and flavourful dressing made from pureed vegetables and Japanese seasonings.
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Ingredients
- For the Dressing!
- 2 shallots
- 1 celery stalk
- 1/3 sweet Asian carrot (or 2 small carrots)
- 10 cm-piece ginger
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp tamari
- 2 tbsp olive or avocado oil
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp shio koji (optional)
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Pepper, to taste
- For the Salad!
- 3 cups Arugula
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/3 cup snap peas, ends trimmed, cut into thirds
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Instructions
- Dice shallots, celery, carrot and ginger and put them in a blender with the rest of the ingredients.
- Blend until smooth.
- Assemble your salad in a large serving bowl and pour a portion of the dressing over the ingredients right before serving.
- The leftover dressing will keep in the fridge for up to a week. Make sure to mix it before using!
Notes
Shio koji (塩麹) is a lacto-fermented mixture of rice koji (rice inoculated with aspergillus oryzae spore -- the basis for many well-know Japanese ferments such as miso, sake and soy sauce). It provides enzymes and probiotics while imparting the dish with a unique umami flavour. You can substitute sea salt, himalayan salt or fish sauce. To learn more about shio koji, how to make it at home, and how to use it in the kitchen, click here.
Guidance and Inspiration
Wandering Tanuki — Japanese-style Thousand Island Dressing
❤ Thank you Wandering Tanuki!
