Japanese Ginger Dressing

I LOVE Japanese ginger dressing. It’s always been my favorite part of visiting a Hibachi restaurant, and it’s healthy and light. But over the years, attempts to find a bottled substitute have universally failed. Most are like ginger-scented vinegar. They are without exception really, really awful.

So now that I’m the family chef, I decided to make my own, and it turns out it’s really simple:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of roughly chopped onion

1/2 cup of olive oil

1/4 rice vinegar

4 or 5 tablespoons of fresh, grated ginger root

1 or 2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

3 teaspoons of tomato paste

3 teaspoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt (optional)

2 or 3 teaspoons of lemon juice to taste

Preparation:

Put vegetable ingredients in a food processor or large handy-chopper and obliterate. Stop occasionally to poke chop-resistant bits with a spatula and show them what’s what. Keep processing until slightly less smooth than you expect you’ll want.

If you have difficultly getting everything blended, add small amounts of the liquids.

When uniform, add remaining ingredients and blend fully. Add small amounts of water if desired.

Store in refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Information:

No idea. Seriously, who cares?

Serving:

Toss well into crisp green salad torn into small enough pieces to be handled with chopsticks. Serve in small bowls and garnish with a few spoonfuls of nice clumpy dressing slurry.

Eat using chopsticks. What are you, a barbarian?