Ever been to a sushi restaurant and got a Japanese-style salad with a mysterious orange salad dressing on top? This salad dressing has so many complex flavours to it. It is sweet, savoury and acidic all at the same time. Here, east meets west! It is a lettuce-based salad with carrot ribbons and grape tomatoes tossed in a bright salad dressing combining multiple Asian flavours.

Japanese-style salad with romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes and ribbons of carrots in a bowl

The best thing about making this salad at home is that you can put whatever vegetables you want in it. You could make this as a side dish for a bento box. Another option is to even make a big bowl of this salad next time you order take-out sushi, if you’re feeling like having extra veggies.

Ingredients

Romaine Lettuce – you can use iceberg lettuce as well, which is what sushi restaurants tend to use, at least where I live in Canada. I use romaine lettuce in this recipe since it’s healthier.
Grape Tomatoes – Cherry tomatoes would also work.
Olive oil – avocado oil would work, but it is more expensive.
Ginger – I use frozen ginger, since I find ginger doesn’t last very long even in the fridge.
Carrot – This is what gives the salad dressing its bright colour.
Apple cider vinegar – brings fruity notes to the salad dressing.
Onion – yellow or white onion would work.
Honey – you can also use other sugars like brown sugar or white sugar.
Sesame oil – This makes the salad dressing very aromatic. I find that Japanese brands tend to have a deeper, nuttier, toastier flavour than other types.
Soy sauce – I recommend using Japanese-style soy sauce, which tends to be traditionally brewed using fermentation, rather than through chemical means. It has a more complex flavour that can’t be replicated through chemical processes.
Garlic – you may use any form of garlic (i.e., frozen, freeze-dried, pre-minced, etc.). I used fresh garlic, since I find that the flavour is much stronger.

How to Make Japanese-Style Salad

First, wash, cut and dry off the lettuce leaves. I like to use a salad spinner to dry the leaves off, since it’s a lot quicker than using paper towel. Drying off the leaves helps ensure that the excess water doesn’t dilute the salad dressing.

chopped romaine lettuce in a salad spinner

Next, peel a carrot and create ribbons using a vegetable peeler.

Then halve the grape tomatoes, so they look more appealing in the salad. This also helps to distribute them throughout the salad, as there are more pieces to be tossed within the salad.

How to make Japanese-style salad dressing

To make the salad dressing, chop another carrot into 1 cm thick slices.

Chopping carrot into coins on a white cutting board

Then, dice an onion into small pieces.

Dicing an onion on a white cutting board

Next, peel garlic cloves. You can leave them whole.

Peeled cloves of garlic on a white cutting board with knife, carrot, and ginger

Mince ginger.

Add the carrot, onion, garlic cloves, ginger, olive oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, and honey to the food processor.

Food processor with carrots, olive oil, onion, ginger and honey in it

Then process all of the ingredients together until they are well blended and the carrots are minced into tiny pieces.

Processing Japanese salad dressing in food processor

If serving immediately, toss the salad dressing with the salad vegetables. If not, serve the salad dressing on the side with the vegetables. The salad dressing will separate after sitting for a while. Mix the salad dressing prior to serving the salad in this case.

Japanese style salad with chopped romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes and carrot in a white bowl

This salad goes well with sushi and as a side in a bento box! It can compliment other Japanese mains too like Japanese fried chicken.