I had a request on Facebook for healthy salad dressing recipes – olive oil with vinegar and spices is a great beginning, but there are so many possibilities! One of my favorite “dressings” is about 1/4 cup of Trader Joe’s papaya-mango salsa and a couple of tablespoons of eggplant hummus. Trader Joe’s carries that, but I also make my own:
Eggplant Hummus
355 grams eggplant
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbs sesame seeds, ground
1/2 cup garbanzo beans, cooked
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2 Rinse eggplant, prick in several places with a sharp knife and place in a baking pan. Bake until skin is soft and dark (50-60 minutes). When cool enough to handle, cut in half and spoon pulp into a colander. Let stand for 5 minutes then squeeze out excess moisture.
3 In a food processor, combine pulp with the rest of the ingredients except the seasonings. Puree to a smooth paste and season to taste. You can also add 1 tablespoon of parsley and 2 teaspoons of mint. When properly seasoned, place in a bowl, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve warm.
Servings: 22
Yield: 330 grams (11.75 oz.) serving=1 tblsp (15g)
Nutrition (per serving): 20.4 calories; 32% calories from fat; 0.8g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 22.9mg sodium; 39.6mg potassium; 3.0g carbohydrates; 0.8g fiber; 0.7g sugar; 2.2g net carbs; 0.7g protein.
Another favorite dressing for salads is a tahini dressing that I put together to try to recreate the one they serve at Dharma’s restaurant in Capitola, CA:
Tahini Lemon Miso Dressing
1/2 cup tahini
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cups water
2 tablespoons barley miso
1 teaspoons cumin seed, ground
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon tamari
1/2 teaspoon salt
Servings: 12; 2 tablespoons per serving
Nutrition (per serving): Calories 66.51; Total Fat 5.54g; Carbohydrates 3.04g; Dietary Fiber 0.50g; Protein 2.08g
This is a good reminder to have some salad today – yesterday I went quite overboard on fruit!
