Creamy Japanese Carrot-Ginger Salad Dressing

Not long ago we visited Arne’s parents in Woodland Park, Colorado, where they took us to a bustling restaurant called Fusion Japan. The place was jam-packed, and I have rarely seen servers hustling the way our waitress did! For some reason we each ordered a different chicken dish. (We didn’t try the sushi – a pity, because the online reviews are excellent.) All the dishes were fresh-flavored and tasty, but for some reason the element that stuck in my mind was the simple salad dressed with a creamy carrot-ginger dressing.

A modest salad with a ginger dressing is, of course, a staple at almost any place that serves sushi. And I can’t say I’ve never had a creamy version before, though they’re rare in these parts. But there’s a simple genius to bulking out the creamy dressing with grated carrot. The carrot makes the dressing so sweet and flavorful, while stretching the bit of mayonnaise to seem like more than it is. Carrot and ginger are a classic pairing for a reason; the tanginess of rice vinegar and smooth toastiness of sesame oil create a beautifully balanced whole.

I enjoyed that salad so much that I knew, when I made sushi a couple weeks later, that I had to recreate it. And why not? It was dead simple to throw together, the work of just a few minutes. By far the hardest part of this recipe is grating the carrot and ginger, which is hardly back-breaking labor. I use a classic Microplane zester/grater to get the job done. It works better on ginger if you cut the tough skin off the section you’ll be grating.

Keep the rest of the salad simple – a bowlful of lettuce (I used red leaf lettuce, but Romaine or even crisp but maligned Iceberg would be just fine), a few cucumber slices, maybe a couple of cherry tomatoes.