Asian Salad dressings - how to make without the oil?

[victw]

This recipe looks interesting to me.
https://www.101cookbooks.com/rainbow-no ... ad-recipe/

But I can't quit figure out how it would work without the oil in the salad dressing? Normally I would just leave it out. But the oil seems important here.

I'm concerned the dressing would not have the right consistency when leaving out the oil.
Now that I look at it - I'm thinking I will probably drop some of the nuts and seeds. They seem important for texture - but seems like a little bit too many.

Any ideas?
Vic

[Lyndzie]

I think you are on the right track. I’ve made a tahini sriracha dressing before, by adding a squirt of sriracha to a basic tahini dressing (1 tbsp each of tahini, vinegar and water). For this recipe, I would probably do a cashew base if 1/2 c cashews soaked in 1/2 c water, plus 2 tbsp lime juice, and sriracha. If you want it sweeter, and some if the fruit from the salad to the dressing. Whip it up in a blender and adjust to taste.

In the latest McDougall book, there are recipes that call for the smallest amount of sesame oil, but here I think you can make a delicious dressing without missing it at all.

The recipe looks really good. The framework is super adjustable, like using edamame or tempeh instead of tofu. It has a lot if rich ingredients, but can easily be changed to fit your dietary needs.

[Lyndzie]

I made this tonight. It’s delicious, for sure. I tweaked some things to taste, and to make things easier.

For dressing, I blended soaked cashews with water, lime juice, and soy sauce. Served sriracha on the side, because I’m the only one who likes spicy at my house.

[victw]

Lyndzie,

I'm glad you made it and liked it. I was avoiding a cashew or tahini dressing because I wanted to keep the clear color that the dressing would be - plus I already do a lot of hummus based dressings.

This recipe seems like it would look super vibrant. And have a nice texture - lots of crunch. I'd like to develop a bigger repertoire of prepared salads.

Glad you made it.
Vicki

[Caroveggie]

You might try aquafaba - chickpea juice. Just buy a can of chickpeas and collect the juice. I've used it successfully in baking bread as a replacement for oil. I don't think it'll affect the taste other than to give a chickpea taste...which may be good? It has a consistency like oil and not much taste to it.

[Lyndzie]

I think you could simply dress it with lime juice and sriracha. Or even blend some lime, avocado and cilantro for a dressing. It’s the kind of salad that is hard to screw up. Thanks for posting it!

[AlwaysAgnes]

There's a recipe for a fat-free oil substitute for salad dressings in this newsletter that you could use in place of the sunflower oil. It's basically water thickened with cornstarch. Cook it to thicken, then cool it. You could also use water thickened with chia seeds or just sub plain water for the oil and then thicken the dressing a tad with a tiny bit of guar gum or xanthan gum. The last methods don't require cooking to thicken things the way cornstarch does.

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2008nl/jul/recipes.htm