Soybean Carrot Salad with Ginger Sesame Dressing

Pin It
This is a culinary disaster with a happy ending. Since we're having leftover Udon from yesterday, I thought I'd stick with the Japanese theme. I consulted some cookbooks and picked a recipe that would incorporate some of my pantry items (namely soybeans, shiitake mushrooms, and seaweed). I came across one recipe that seemed perfect. Of course, not being detail-oriented, I didn't read all the way through the recipe. By the time I'm ready to make dinner, I realized that it was a recipe for a stew. But we're already having noodle soup for dinner. Um, what to do...?

I remembered a particular ginger sesame dressing that I used to get at Japanese supermarkets. I decided to make a home version of it and turn this stew into a salad.

For the dressing:

• 2 tablespoon of ginger, grated
  
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of mustard
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon each of the soaking liquid for the shiitake mushrooms and seaweed
  

The salad:

• 2 cups of soybeans, canned or cooked
• 3/4 cup of dried seaweed, soaked in cold water
• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water and chopped small
• 1 large carrot, grated

This would be better if I cooked the soybeans more and made more dressing. But otherwise, it's a good way to boost protein in a vegetarian diet.