Soy Sesame Dressing

Often I make salads or noodle salads with soy sesame dressing for some fresh and zesty Asian flavor for some cold and healthy dish. I used to purchase sesame dressings from a local supermarket but decided to make my own dressing because of the ridiculously high price for commercial sesame dressings and enhancement of its flavor through home making process.

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds, 2 teaspoon of lemon vinegar, little sprinkle of dried ginger powder and black pepper, 1 tablespoon of corn syrup, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar


You might want to add corn syrup and soy sauce first just to blend the thick syrup into the watery soy sauce, creating a semi-thick solution suitable for a salad dressing. Of course, if you're health conscious, you can skip the corn syrup part and use the thin version of the dressing although that would be more like a soy sesame vinaigrette, which is really good too.

Korean Spicy Dressing

Korean spicy dressing aka Yangyumjang is one of the most frequently used dressing for variety of Korean foods. Its blended flavor of some of the most common Korean ingredients with a kick of spice, sourness, sesame, and of course some garlic compliment each other very well. This dressing is used for Bibimbap, Korean spicy cold noodles (although for some, grated pear or apple is also added), and even for some pork or chicken stir fry marinade. This flavor is like a backbone of Korean flavors in most spicy Korean cuisine.

Ingredients: Korean red pepper paste (2 tablespoons), red pepper powder (1 teaspoon), sesame oil (2 teaspoons), sesame seeds (1 teaspoon), apple juice (1 tablespoon), vinegar (1 teaspoon), soy sauce (1 teaspoon), sugar (2 teaspoons), and finely minced garlic (1 teaspoon)

Optional ingredient: Hot mustard