Today I’m sharing another recipe requested by a reader and it is Wafu Dressing. Wafu (和風) means Japanese-style. You might have a similar Japanese food term that starts with “wa” and that is Wagyu (和牛), which means Japanese beef. In Japanese, “wa” (和) means Japanese-style. Washoku (和食) means a Japanese meal and Wagashi (和菓子) means a Japanese snack.
Wafu Dressing – Japanese-style Salad Dressing
Generally, Wafu Dressing (和風ドレッシング) refers to a salad dressing that consists of vegetable oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Every household has a slightly different recipe for it and this is my version with grated onion to make it extra flavorful. On a side note, if you replace a part of the vegetable oil with sesame oil, we call it Chuka Dressing (中華ドレッシング), meaning Chinese-style dressing in the Japanese culinary world. I thought it’s kind of interesting that the Japanese created a “Chinese-style dressing” since Mr. JOC (he’s a Taiwanese American) told me that salad exists in the Chinese food culture but it’s not very common to eat raw salad. If you’re interested in Chuka Dressing, please click here.
There are so many kinds of Wafu Dressing choices available in Japanese supermarkets, but homemade dressing has no MSG and preservatives and the best part is you can adjust the flavor as you wish. The ingredients and condiments are very typical for Japanese cooking so I hope you will give this a try today!
Interesting in More Homemade Salad Dressings?
4 Japanese Salad Dressings Sesame Dressing Carrot Ginger Dressing Miso Dressing
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Update: The post was originally published on October 14, 2011. The photos are updated in November 2013.
