I made my pal Renee swear to never buy salad dressing again. Remind me to follow up on that blood oath.For years, I’ve been making my own salad dressings. It began out of necessity because I lived on the edge of the food bank in my 20s and I could afford to buy groceries let alone the luxury of salad dressing. The $4-5 bottled dressing didn’t make it into my grocery cart very often.
Through a lot of trial and error, I learned that I could make my own for half the price. A simple vinaigrette needed only some oil and balsamic vinegar. A creamy dressing would call for plain yogurt, some lemon and spices.
Thanks to the Internet and general word of mouth my dressings have become a lot less boring. My absolute favourite creation is a spicy peanut dressing which pairs well with kale. Actually I am a little obsessed with it. So good!
Anyway I decided to break out of my salad dressing rut and make something different. (When you’re not running as much as you are used to, you have time to dream up new recipes.) I decided to use the tahini that’s collecting dust in my pantry. Are you familiar with tahini? It’s is a paste made from ground sesame seeds. Most people use it in hummus. But since I bought my Vitamix, I like to use sesame seeds.
I read several recipes online. In all the basics included water + tahini + lemon juice + garlic. I decided to go basic and added turmeric at the last second. It gives the dressing a nice colour!
Garlic Turmeric Tahini Dressing
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup water
1-2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon turmeric
1. Organize ingredients and tools
2. I use a garlic press to mince the cloves; a small whisk and bowl
3. Now get to whisking!
4. Add more less of the ingredients to your liking. Enjoy!
Kale was on sale at the grocery store so I bought A LOT on Friday. I usually put kale in my smoothies or make it into a salad. After washing the kale, I massaged some some olive oil into it before storing it in the fridge for about half an hour. The oil, as I mentioned before, softens the kale and allows the dressing to stay put.
Look at that bowl. That’s a lot of kale, right? I always make way too much so I have enough for the next day or two. I added some sunflower seeds and chickpeas before adding the dressing. Because it was now lunch time, I put some kale on a plate and put the bowl back into the fridge.
Basically I use the kale (and chickpeas and sunflower seeds) as a base for my salads for the week. This saves time and the ingredients do not get all mushy. Today I added tomatoes, oranges and chia seeds.
I could definitely taste the garlic and turmeric in the dressing. It was an interesting taste. I think next time I would add less water. I don’t think I added enough tahini. #SaladDressingFail But I was scared off reading that 1/4 cup had 700 calories. (No joke!) It wasn’t as creamy as I thought it would be. Oops but it was a a nice, light taste. (Sorry you can’t really see the dressing on the salad.)
What is your favorite DIY salad dressing?
My sis is the queen of dressings! She gave me a recipe for a green goddess dressing….must find it! mmmm. a big salad sounds so juicy and yummy right now.