Sweet, sour and warm with a slight zing, this Chinese Plum and Ginger Dressing promises to flavour any salad recipe with great gusto. It will be your favourite in no time!
At The Devil Wears Salad, we love a good Asian style salad dressing. It wouldn’t be a surprise, therefore, that one would feature a popular Chinese condiment, the plum sauce.
Originating from Southern China, this sauce, sweet and tart at the same time, is viscous with a light brown colour. It is used mainly as a dipping sauce or as a marinade to many dishes. It is quite synonymous with duck, spring rolls and egg rolls.
You can find plum sauce in most of your supermarkets’ Asian section, and if not, your Asian grocer will most definitely have it.
You can, of course, try making it at home, especially during the warmer months when plums are in season. All you’re essentially doing is boiling plums with vinegar, water, sugar, ginger, garlic, cinnamon stick, star anise and Chinese Five Spice.
If you like the aromatics, which have been softened anyway, you can add it all into a food processor and puree it. Corn starch is later added to give that thick consistency.
Like anything else, there are so many variations to the traditional plum sauce. Some people add apricots and prunes to the recipe and have also heard the use of soy sauce, oyster sauce and even tamarind to add to the tart flavours.
Whichever takes your fancy, a plum sauce is a fantastic condiment to create salad dressings. Give it a try!
Plum and Ginger Dressing Ingredients
Rice wine vinegar: A sweeter and milder vinegar compared to white wine vinegar we also wanted to keep the Asian flavours consistent. Our go-to brand is the Marukan Rice Wine Vinegar, or you could also try the Kikkoman Rice Vinegar if it’s easier to find.
Olive oil: Select an olive oil of your choice to give the salad dressing some good fats.
Plum sauce: A thick, sweet and tart sauce that adds great flavour to any salad dressing and stir fry. Fantastic for marinades too! If you need a hand selecting a plum sauce, try the Lee Kum Kee Plum Sauce or the Wok Mei Plum Sauce.
Ginger: An essential ingredient in Chinese cooking, ginger provides a natural warmth no other ingredient can. You’ll need a small knob of fresh ginger for this recipe.
Plum and Ginger Dressing Method
Peel the ginger. You can either use a peeler or use the edge of a teaspoon to scrape the skin off. With a fine grater such as the Microplane Zester Peeler, grate enough to yield 1 ½ tsp.
In a small mixing bowl, add the rice wine vinegar, olive oil, plum sauce and grated ginger until well combined.
Best Salad for This Dressing
Chinese Cauliflower Salad with Shredded Chicken
This lean and healthy Chinese Cauliflower Salad celebrates quintessential Asian flavours with a new kid on the block. The sweet and tender stalks of this new vegetable mixed through with a clean protein is simply delicious!
More Salad Dressing Recipes
Recipe
Plum and Ginger Dressing
Ingredients
- 1½ tsp ginger, grated
- 4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp plum sauce
Click on the toggle below for conversion to US Cooking Units.
Instructions
- Peel the ginger and grate enough to yield 1 ½ tsp.
- In a small mixing bowl, add the rice wine vinegar, olive oil, plum sauce and grated ginger until well combined.
Nutrition
*Disclaimer: Nutritional information provided is an estimate only and generated by an online calculator.
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Alexandra
So delicious – love the flavours
The Devil Wears Salad
Thank you! Quintessential Asian flavours. Can’t go wrong.