Miso, Ginger & Sesame Vegetable Salad

This Miso, Ginger & Sesame Vegetable Salad is a real favourite at our house. The sweet and tart, zingy dressing is made in about five minutes. All you need to do then is decide what crunchy veg you want in the salad. I love carrot, red pepper, cucumber, onions, radish, greens and herbs. But choose whichever you like, so long as it ends up colourful, varied and enticing.

MISO

Miso, a paste of fermented beans, has been a part of Japanese and Chinese cuisine for centuries. But, in recent years, it’s become much more widely used by Western cooks and, thankfully, is widely available.

Much of that popularity may be due to the current craze for fermented foods and their perceived health benefits, especially digestive health.

But I use miso simply because I like the flavour. It adds an intense, salty-savoury taste to dishes which is known as umami and now considered to be the fifth taste.

Want to know more about miso, including the different types available? Take a look here.

MISO, GINGER & SESAME DRESSING

For the dressing, simply whisk all the ingredients together: miso paste, lime juice, sesame oil, grated root ginger, rice vinegar, honey or other sweetener and sesame seeds. The result should be sharp, tangy, savoury and sweet all at once. Add a little more of any of the ingredients until it’s to your taste. Depending on how salty your miso is, you might or might not want to add salt.

Put the dressing aside until you’re ready to serve the salad, mixing together at the last moment so that the vegetables stay good and crunchy.

SERVING

My current favourite way of eating Miso, Ginger & Sesame Vegetable Salad is with Sriracha, Soy & Honey Glazed Salmon. I love the contrast between the crunchy, refreshing salad and the soft, tender fish with its sticky and spicy hot glaze.

I think the salad would go equally well with spicy chicken, an Asian-style omelette or fried tofu.

5 from 2 votes

Print

Miso, Ginger & Sesame Vegetable Salad

The dressing for this refreshing salad is whisked together in about five minutes then poured over crunchy vegetables just before serving. The vegetables shown in the recipe are just a suggestion: use any you like, so long as it ends up colourful, varied and enticing.

Course Side Dish, Salad

Cuisine Vegetarian, Vegan, Asian

Keyword salad, miso

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

For the dressing

• 2 tsp miso paste
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp ginger, finely grated
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp honey, maple syrup or other sweetener
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• salt to taste optional

For the salad (this is just a suggestion, choose your own combination of fresh, crunchy vegetables)

• 1 medium carrot julienned or grated
• half a small red pepper cut into thin strips
• 10 cm cucumber julienned or cut into long, thin strips
• half a small red onion skinned & cut into thin slices
• 3 small radish thinly sliced
• 1 handful greens (e.g. kale, cabbage, lettuce, rocket, pea shoots) shred kale, cabbage or lettuce
• 2 spring onions cut into 3, then sliced in thin strips
• 1 tbsp chopped or torn herbs e.g. coriander, mint, parsley, chives
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

Instructions

For the dressing

1. Simply whisk all the dressing ingredients together. Taste and see if it needs any salt. Set aside until ready to serve the salad.
   

For the salad

1. Combine all the salad ingredients, except the sesame seeds, in a bowl.

   When ready to serve, whisk the dressing again, pour over the salad and toss well.

   Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve.