Okay, so I’ve been on this kick lately, trying to recreate some of my favorite restaurant dishes at home. You know, save a bit of money, plus it’s kind of fun to play chef. Anyway, I recently got hooked on the ginger dressing they serve at Benihana. It’s that tangy, slightly sweet, and gingery goodness that just makes any salad ten times better. So, I thought, why not try making it myself?
First, I did some digging online. I found out that this dressing is also called sesame ginger dressing or sesame dressing. It’s like an Americanized take on East Asian flavors. And, it’s not just for salads. People use it on all sorts of stuff, even spinach or as a dipping sauce. Cool, right?
Next, I started gathering the ingredients. Now, the ingredient lists I found online varied a bit. I read the labels and they generally included water, soybean oil, soy sauce, sugar, distilled vinegar, and rice vinegar. Some also had stuff like modified corn starch, miso paste, ground ginger, sesame seed oil, and a bunch of other things.
I decided to keep it simple. I grabbed some:
- Onion
- Soybean oil
- Water
- Soy sauce
- Rice vinegar
- Celery
- Ginger
I figured I’d start with these basics and then tweak it to my liking.
The Mixing
Now came the fun part. I roughly chopped up the onion, celery, and ginger. I wasn’t too worried about making them super fine since I was going to blend everything anyway. Then, I tossed them into my blender. I added some water, soybean oil, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. I eyeballed the amounts, to be honest. I mean, who really measures everything precisely, right?
I hit the blend button and watched it all whiz around. It turned into this creamy, pale-orange mixture. I tasted it, and it was pretty close! But something was missing. It needed a bit more sweetness, so I added a touch of sugar. I also felt it could use more of a ginger kick, so I grated in some extra fresh ginger. Blend again, taste again. Much better!
After a few more rounds of tweaking, I finally nailed it! It tasted just like the Benihana dressing, maybe even a tad better because it was freshly made. I poured it over a simple salad mix, and it was heavenly. I’m telling you, this homemade ginger dressing is a game-changer.
So, yeah, that’s my little kitchen adventure. It’s not rocket science, but it sure is satisfying to make something this delicious from scratch. If you’re a fan of that Benihana ginger dressing, give this a shot. You might surprise yourself!
