Goma dressing

Goma, also known as Japanese sesame dressing, is creamy and nutty and, frankly, one-of-a-kind.

It’s great as a dressing for salads or slaws, dipping sauce for cold noodles, marinade for meat and tofu — in fact, there’s not a lot it’s not well-suited for. Its lightly sweet and savory flavors and rich nuttiness makes it a welcome addition to many dishes.

You can find pre-made goma dressing at Japanese grocery stores like Uwajimaya, but it’s also super easy to make at home. All you need are toasted sesame seeds, toasted sesame oil, mayonnaise — preferably Kewpie Japanese mayo — rice vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce.

Once those ingredients are acquired, it’s just a couple steps: Just toast the sesame seeds, grind them into a paste with a mortar and pestle or food processor, and combine with the rest of the ingredients.

Some people’s recipes may include mirin or tahini, and you’ll find that different recipes have slightly different ratios of these ingredients. That’s the nice thing with goma and, indeed, many homemade dressings: you can really adjust ratios and additional ingredients as you please — it really just comes down to your personal taste so is quite forgiving.

You can find pre-made goma dressing at Uwajimaya in our grocery department but, if you’re more in the mood to make your own, you can find ingredients throughout the store.