Wafu Japanese Salad Dressing

Happy Boxing Day! Here’s a healthy and delicious 15-minute salad with Japanese wafu dressing to make up for all that festive feasting. The wafu vinaigrette is one of my favourite salad dressing, because it’s not heavy, quick to make (5 minutes!) and of course, delicious. With the ease of making, there is no excuse to skip the greens no matter how busy one is ;)

See Also:
Simmered Pumpkin Japanese Recipe

You can also make turn this into a low-carb meal, but adding one or two toppings (such as tofu, avocado, chicken, crab sticks etc) to make it a complete meal.

Wafu Salad Dressing Recipe

Rice Vinegar and shoyu (soy sauce) makes the base of the wafu vinaigrette.

Wafu Salad Recipe

Japanese Wafu Salad Recipe

The sauce keeps in the fridge for about a week. Upon refrigeration, the oil may float up and solidify; simply let it thaw at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before use.

Feel free to substitute with your favourite seasonal salad ingredients, such as corn, hard-boiled egg and carrot for the salad bowl.

Ingredients:

(A) Salad Ingredients

  • 2 cups lettuce (romain, iceberg or assorted) leaves cut or torn to bite-sized
  • half Japanese cucumber thinly sliced
  • 1 tomato cut to six wedges; or 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 avocado pitted; cut to wedges or bite-sized pieces
  • 1 tbsp wakame soaked in a bowl of water for 5 minutes, drained and excess water squeezed out
  • 2 tsp roasted sesame seeds

(B) Wafu Vinaigrette Dressing

  • 2 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar may use apple cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp shoyu (light soy sauce)
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil or vegetable oil/extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp ginger juice
  • freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:

  1. Divide and arrange (A) in two serving bowls.
  2. Combine and whisk (B) in a small bowl. Divide into two portions.
  3. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the salad. Serve each salad bowl with wafu dressing at the side.