If you think you need to buy bottled salad dressings or learn how to make a vinaigrette in order to eat salad, you are wrong. In this article you will find 8 ways to dress your salad, which will help you up your vegetable intake.
What are salad dressings?
Salad dressings are often a combination of an acidic ingredient and a fat, often emulsified and seasoned with salt, herbs and/or spices.
The acidic ingredient is usually a type of vinegar (e.g. red or white wine, apple cider, balsamic, rice) or citrus fruit juice (e.g. lemon, lime, orange).
The fat is usually oil (e.g. olive, canola, sesame) because oils are liquid at room temperature.
Most salad dressings are seasoned with salt and pepper, but you can also add fresh or dried herbs and other spices.
Emulsification is the process of making a watery component (i.e. the acidic ingredient) and a fatty component (i.e. the oil), which normally don’t get along well, mix into a homogenous (i.e. uniform) substance. This can be achieved by mechanical means (e.g. whisking, stirring, shaking) and/or chemical means (i.e. adding something that has emulsification properties such as mustard or egg yolk).
There are many other ingredients that can be added to dressings for flavour, including soy sauce, fish sauce, citrus zest, and MSG.
Do you need to make salad dressings?
Making salad dressings can be daunting for many people, particularly those who are time poor or do not enjoy cooking.
Moreover, different people have different taste preferences and following a recipe does not guarantee ou will enjoy a particular dressing.
The truth is that vegetables do not require a dressing to become salad. They can be dressed by individual elements as long as they give them the desired flavour profile.
8 ways to dress your salad
Below are my favourite ways to dress salads, depending on the types of vegetables or cuisine:
Mediterranean 1
- Base: lemon juice + extra virgin olive oil + salt + pepper
- Optional: chilli flakes, garlic (fresh or powder), fresh or dried herbs (e.g. parsley, oregano, thyme, basil)
Mediterranean 2
- Base: balsamic vinegar + extra virgin olive oil + salt + pepper
- Optional: chilli flakes, fresh or dried herbs (e.g. parsley, oregano, thyme, basil)
Middle Eastern 1
- Base: lemon juice + extra virgin olive oil + salt + sumac
- Optional: pepper, garlic (fresh or powder), chilli flakes or fresh chilli, fresh herbs (parsley and/or coriander and/or mint), ground cumin
Middle Eastern 2
- Base: tahini + water + lemon juice + salt + sumac (whisk tahini + water + lemon until smooth and to desired thickness)
- Optional: pepper, garlic (fresh or powder), paprika, za’atar
Middle Eastern 3
- Base: tahini + water + salt (whisk tahini + water until smooth and to desired thickness) + pomegranate molasses
- Optional: pepper, za’atar
Peruvian
- Base: lime juice + extra virgin olive oil + salt + pepper
- Optional: fresh chilli, fresh coriander
Japanese
- Base: soy sauce + mirin + rice wine vinegar + sesame oil
- Optional: shichimi togarashi
Vietnamese
- Base: lime juice + rice wine vinegar + fish sauce + water + sugar + fresh garlic
- Optional: fresh chilli, fresh mint and coriander
How to dress your salad
Here are some recommendations on how to dress your salad:
- Add small quantities of your chosen ingredients, toss your salad using your hand or utensils, taste and adjust.
- If you are making a big salad for the whole family, dress it with the ingredients everyone eats and let people add the rest to taste.
- Dress your salad just before eating. If you are packing your salad for work or school, use small leak-proof containers for oil and vinegar (both can be packed together), salt, pepper, herbs and citrus fruit wedges (these are better squeezed just before eating).
- Try different flavour combinations. Use recipes and restaurant menus to figure out which ingredients are likely to go well together.
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