By MELBA
If you enjoy the classic flavours of Japanese food, then you will love this Asian Ginger-Miso dressing that can interchangeably be used as either a dressing or a marinade.
If using as a dressing, it goes well with charred cabbage wedges or a crisp lettuce salad but could work equally well with on an Asian slaw or over BBQ’d beans or brocollini. As a marinade, white meats pair particularly well with it such as chicken, fish or pork.
Salty and sweet with a little warming heat from both the chilli flakes and fresh ginger, this is delicious.
Here are a few little tips that I follow, and which never fail to provide me with a delicious end result.
Golden Lakanto, which is an erythritol-monk fruit blend, is my sweetener of choice in this dressing but other brown sugar substitutes such as erythritol-stevia blends should also work well.
When it comes to the miso, it is important to use a light miso paste rather than a dark miso as the darker miso pastes sometimes carry a heavier earthiness of flavour that tends to be a little overpowering. I often substitute white miso for instant miso soup sachets that can be bought from many standard supermarkets. I find one sachet tends to make a great equivalent to 1Tb of miso paste. The one I buy also has some little pieces of seaweed (wakame) included in the miso which I really love.
Both the ginger and chilli flakes provide a spicy hit of heat, so if you don’t like your dishes to be spicy hot, you may choose to leave the chilli flakes out. Personally, I love the heat.
White pepper is generally the type of pepper used in many Asian dishes. It has quite a different flavour profile to black pepper so I do not swap black pepper for white pepper when making this dressing/marinade.
Finally, if you are not used to the flavour of sesame oil, dry the dressing/marinade with just ½ tsp first, then give it a taste test. If you want a stronger sesame flavour, add a little more.
So, those are a few of my little tips for putting this dressing/marinade together. It is a favourite in our household and I’m sure it will be a hit in your household too!
INGREDIENTS
3 Tb | Brown Sugar Substitute (I use golden Lakanto) |
2 Tb | Light Soy Sauce |
2 Tb | White Miso Paste (or 2 sachets of instant Miso Soup) |
1 Tb | Rice Vinegar |
1 Tb | Ginger, minced (or store-bought ginger paste) |
½ – 1 tsp | Sesame Oil |
½ tsp | Chilli Flakes |
¼ – ½ tsp | White Pepper |
METHOD
- In a small bowl, place 3Tb brown sugar substitute, 2Tb light soy sauce, 2Tb white miso paste, 1Tb rice vinegar, 1Tb minced ginger, ½ – 1tsp sesame oil, ½ tsp chilli flakes and ¼ – ½ tsp white pepper.
- Mix well to blend all the ingredients together.
- Use as a dressing or marinade. It should keep well in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. You can also make extra and freeze it till needed.
