Other Spices and General Seasoning

• The strong flavor of ginger means it pairs well with other strong spices, such as sesame. You can use toasted sesame seeds in a ginger sesame dressing, or use toasted sesame oil. Because of the strong taste, do not replace all the oil in your dressing with toasted sesame oil. Many ginger dressings include sugar, to enhance ginger’s natural sweetness. As ginger dressings are also often served on salads in Japanese restaurants, the sweetness also creates a contrast between it and the savory main course dishes, such as tempura and sushi.

Soy-Based Dressings

• A soy-based ginger dressing uses ginger and soy sauce to season everything from cooked and raw vegetables to fish or even chicken. Because soy sauce has a strong taste, low-sodium or light soy sauce is often used so as not to overpower the ginger. Soy-based ginger dressings are thin and dark-colored, so they go best with crisp vegetables or other foods with strong flavors, such as grilled chicken or salmon. Soy-based dressings are also frequently used to cut the richness of foods so they are often used with unagi, grilled eel, and tempura in Japanese restaurants. Because soy is naturally very salty, this is one of the least sweet Japanese ginger dressings, but the dressing still includes some sugar.

With Fruits or Vegetables

• While not traditional to Japanese cuisine, pureed fresh pineapple, mixed with ginger, oil and rice wine, makes for a sweet-spicy dressing that goes well with salads and pork. It can even be used with strong-flavored fish, such as salmon. Carrots, a naturally sweet vegetable, are often combined with ginger to make a salad dressing. Grate the carrot and ginger and puree it with oil, rice vinegar, sugar and salt to make a smooth, sweetly spicy dressing. Carrot-ginger dressing was made famous by Japanese-American steakhouses, and is still commonly used today. Chef Tadashi Ono, formerly of La Caravalle in Manhattan, specializes in French and Japanese cuisine, and frequently uses the dressing in his restaurants.

Creamy Dressings

• Creamy ginger dressings are most commonly used for salads or, on rare occasions, as a dip for American-Japanese sushi rolls. Creamy ginger dressings can be made with a base of miso, which when thinned out with water has a salty, umami-rich flavor and a creamy texture. Miso-based ginger dressings can be used on salads or as a marinade for fish. The most well-known instance of this is from Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, who used a ginger and miso marinade for black cod. Creamy ginger dressings can also be made with Japanese mayonnaise, such as Kewpi mayonnaise. Japanese mayonnaise is sweeter and richer than American mayonnaise, and also needs to be thinned out before it can be used as a dressing.