Sesame-Miso Dressing

My version of the luscious salad dressing at a favorite Portland food cart

Now that I’m cooking for two 🪹👍🏽, we’re eating more simply. Every so often I like to share my home food recipes and experiments with paid subscribers of Parent of Adults. It’s been a while so I’ve unlocked this recipe to show you what would usually go behind a paywall.

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Our current Portland food cart obsession is Bing Mi!, home of the jianbing, a spicy, savory, thoroughly satisfying, stuffed crepe-like Chinese street breakfast.

But I’m not here to tell you about the jianbing, even though it’s magnificent. I’m here to tell you about the dressing on Bing Mi’s cucumber salad.

Bing Mi’s cucumber salad is tucked away in the Sides menu. You might miss it, but believe me, it’s there.

The salad consists of pencil-thin cucumber spears (with the peel on) topped with a DELICIOUS sesame dressing and garnished with cilantro, scallions, and either toasted sesame seeds or sunflower seeds (I’ve had it served both ways). Cool, crunchy, creamy, light, refreshing — it’s the perfect foil for a hot, flavorful jianbing.

When I tasted this salad I immediately resolved to recreate the dressing at home.

Here’s what happened.

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My starting point. Recipe and photo credit: The Japantry

I Googled “sesame salad dressing recipe” which brought up a zillion possibilities. After a quick scan I settled on the Homemade Japanese Sesame Salad Dressing recipe at The Japantry as a starting point because:

1. This recipe seemed closest, ingredient-wise, to what I thought I tasted in the Bing Mi! dressing

2. I already had roasted sesame seeds in the fridge.

I sliced up little Persian cucumbers from Trader Joe’s and dressed/garnished them just like Bing Mi! did. (I wish I had taken a picture.) The dressing was delicious and tasted very much like what I remembered!

HOWEVER.

Toasting and grinding sesame seeds is a drag. I also just happened to have a full cup of already-toasted seeds on hand.

Was there a shortcut? 🤔

The next time I made this dressing I swapped the seeds out for two ingredients that were much easier to handle. You can get both at most well-stocked grocery stores; if not near you, I linked to Amazon.

• TAHINI: sesame paste; one of the ingredients in hummus

• RED MISO PASTE: for saltiness, complexity and depth. I assume you’ve had miso soup?

Tahini and miso have permanent residence at the back of my fridge (they last a long time) and I’m always looking ways to use them up, so 👍🏽👍🏽.

My dressing turned out beautifully and was way quicker to throw together. The original dressing was slightly tastier, with a deeper sesame flavor, and the texture was more interesting, but not enough to justify the prep, in my opinion.

• Drizzle this on sliced or speared cucumbers and top with a generous handful of chopped cilantro, scallions and toasted sesame and/or sunflower seeds.

• This would also compliment a green salad or other crisp veggies. How about blanched, chilled snap peas + red pepper strips? That would be fun for a potluck.

• This would also work well as a sauce for a hot grains + greens + protein bowl, potato salad, broiled salmon, sliced hard boiled eggs…

I’m sure you can come up with more ideas — this dressing is very versatile. Happy cooking!

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Sesame-Miso Dressing

• 2 tablespoons tahini

• 1/2 teaspoon red miso

• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I used Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise)

• 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

• 1 teaspoon soy sauce (low-sodium if you have it)

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Whisk all the ingredients together until smooth. I added boiling water, a bit at a time, to loosen up the ingredients and make them blend more smoothly. Chill the dressing before serving.

The measurements here are starting points; adjust the sugar, vinegar and soy sauce to taste. If you use low-sodium soy sauce, you might want to add a bit more miso.

🚨 Usually there’d be a note here requesting that you DO NOT POST my recipes in public. They’re intended as a bonus for my paid subscribers and are for personal use only. But this particular recipe is open to all so you’re welcome to post it. If you do, please link here or tag me — I’m @ashadornfest on Instagram. Thanks for respecting my work.

🥗 MORE SALAD CONTENT FROM THE ARCHIVES

Salad for dinner

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Comments are open. Share your dressing recipe tweaks and serving ideas. I’m always looking for new ideas.

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