Shabu Pork Salad in Homemade Miso Dressing

There's a shortcut to this recipe. It shouldn't be too hard to find Japanese sesame dressing at the grocery store, you know the brownish-looking goma sauce. So if you just want to kick back and have a healthy but hassle-free meal, definitely go with the store-bought dressing. 

However if you feel a bit more adventurous and would like to make everything from scratch, come and give this homemade miso dressing a try.

Shabu pork salad in homemade miso dressing - 

Ingredients (about 4 to 6 portions)?

• 250 grams pork slices
• 100 grams mixed salad greens
• 16 cherry tomatoes
• 8 shiitake mushrooms
• 1 big sheet dried nori
• 1 small can/140 grams corn kernels
• 1 box/480 grams semi-firm tofu (I used sesame flavored tofu)
• 1 small bundle/1 cup loosely packed mitsuba leaves

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons white miso
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Some lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons light sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon grated young ginger
• 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds

How?

Destem the shiitake mushrooms. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil then add in the shiitake mushrooms. Boil for about a minute then scoop out. Slice into quarters.

Slice the pork to shorter pieces if needed. Still using the same pot of water, add in the pork and wait till just turn fully cooked through. Scoop out and set aside. Need to make sure both the shiitake mushrooms and pork have been cooled down before mixing with other ingredients later on.

Prep the salad greens, let it be rinse, drain, or tear to smaller pieces. Once done, transfer the salad to a big mixing bowl. Use mitsuba leaves only, about 1 loosely packed cup, add that to the bowl too.

Halve the cherry tomatoes then add into the bowl. Drain the tofu and hand-tear to medium size chunks to the bowl. Drain the canned corn and add to the bowl. Once the shiitake mushroom and pork slices have been cooled off, add them to the bundle too.

Have another bowl or measuring cup ready, add in all the ingredients listed under the "dressing" section. Mix till the sugar has been dissolved. Pour that dressing to the big mixing bowl and gently fold the ingredients till evenly blended.

Scoop to serving plate. Hand-tear some dried nori sheet on top right before digging in, otherwise the nori/seaweed will turn soft and soggy soon after.

You know what, let it be the store-bought Japanese sesame dressing or this homemade miso dressing, there's also a greedier route by using both.

Yes, don't worry about over salty or that sort of thing. Just combine the two then you'll get this savory and nutty aroma packed dressing in the end. I mean if you'd like your salad on the heavier side, this is one way to go.

Other salad recipes:

• Chopped kale and chickpea salad with roasted chicken in red wine vinaigrette dressing
• White bean and tuna salad (insalata di tonno e faglioli)
• Japanese katsuo tataki salad with miso and ponzu dressing
• Persimmon salad with mozzarella and Jamón Ibérico