Ingredients

   
35g white (shiro) or awase miso
45g rice vinegar, unseasoned
10g onion, finely grated with juice
5g ginger, finely grated with juice
6g mirin
28g neutral oil (grapeseed or rice bran)
5g toasted sesame oil
15–30g cold water
15g lemon juice

Steps

  1. Whisk the miso, rice vinegar, onion, ginger, and mirin in a small bowl until completely smooth. No lumps of miso may remain before any oil goes in — miso will not disperse into oil.

  2. Add the neutral oil in a thin stream while whisking, then whisk in the sesame oil.

  3. Whisk in water, 5g at a time, until the dressing runs off the whisk in a thin ribbon.

  4. Whisk in the lemon juice.

  5. Taste on a leaf of the salad, not off a spoon. Adjust with lemon juice for sharpness, water for thickness.

Notes

  • Add no salt. 35g of white miso at ~6% salt carries about 2g of salt, or 1.3% of the finished dressing. Adding 15g of soy sauce would add another 2.3g — against curry rice, already salted and rich, the dressing’s job is acid and cold, not more salt.
  • Oil to acid is 33g against 60g, the inverse of a classic 3:1 vinaigrette. Miso is the emulsifier and the body, so the oil is there for mouthfeel rather than structure. For a leaner version, drop the neutral oil and add 15g more water — it still coats.
  • Red (aka) miso instead of white: use 20g and make up the rest with water. Red runs ~12% salt against white’s ~6%, so equal weight roughly doubles the salt. Raise the mirin to 10g to offset red’s sharper edge, expect a brown-grey color, and expect it to separate sooner — less paste means less emulsifier.
  • Doenjang instead of miso: the red-miso adjustment, plus three changes. Korean soybean paste runs 3,400–4,800mg sodium per 100g against miso’s 3,730, so use the same 20g. Push it through a fine sieve first — it is coarse where miso is smooth, and whisking will not break down the beans. Take the mirin to 12g, since doenjang has little rice koji and reads flatter than red miso. Add 3g grated garlic.
  • Avoid saikyo (too sweet — it echoes the curry) and hatcho (too assertive raw). Awase works.
  • Do not cook the paste for this dressing. Heat drives off the aroma the dressing exists for, concentrates the salt as water leaves, and builds a roasted depth that only duplicates the curry’s roux. The exception is an assertive paste: simmer 20g red miso or doenjang with 15g sake and 10g mirin on the lowest heat for 2–3 minutes, stirring constantly, then cool completely before any acid goes in. This also dissolves doenjang’s beans, so it replaces the sieve.
  • Add the lemon juice per use rather than to the stored batch; the citrus brightness fades within a day or two while the miso base does not.
  • Keeps refrigerated 7 days. It separates — shake, then add the lemon.
  • Serve on shredded green cabbage, cucumber, and carrot, cold, about 15g per serving, beside Japanese Beef Curry. Dress cabbage 5 minutes ahead so it slumps slightly; dress soft leaves at the table.