carrot-ginger dressing

Often, I don’t have shallots on hand, so I swap in a piece of red onion, and it works marvelously. If you don’t have grapeseed oil, another neutral oil, such as avocado, will be great here. For smaller quantities (such as the yield below), I prefer to use my mini-food processor as it’s much easier to get all of the dressing out. If you make a larger batch, the blender is better and faster. Lastly, sometimes your dressing will be looser than other times—it all depends on how much water is in your vegetables—so, if it’s looking too thick, add another tablespoon of water to get it to the consistency you like. Play around until it works best for you.

1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons roughly chopped peeled fresh ginger
1½ tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1½ tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon sweet white miso
2 teaspoons roasted sesame seed oil
1/4 cup (60 ml) grapeseed oil

In a blender or a mini food processor, pulse the carrot, shallot, and ginger until finely chopped.

Scrape down the sides, add the vinegar, mirin, miso, and sesame seed oil and blend together until mostly smooth (I like it to have a tiny bit of texture). While the motor is going, slowly drizzle in the oil and 2 tablespoons water.

Serve with a salad or vegetables of your choosing. I like a mix of lettuces, carrots, avocado, chickpeas, cucumbers, onion, tomato. I also like to serve it with steamed vegetables, such as broccoli, as a dip.

makes about 1 cup (240 ml)