by jptanabe
If you love tomatoes and onions like I do, you must enjoy them as salad! It's so easy to make a salad with only two ingredients, plus dressing, you just can't go wrong.
Since my husband is Japanese we eat a lot of Japanese-style food. I used to buy Japanese salad dressings - delicious but expensive! Then I figured out how to make it myself. This is a very simple Japanese-style dressing and it makes the best tomato and onion salad. Enjoy!
Image of Tomato and Onion Salad from Wikimedia Commons.
The ingredients for the salad are so simple:
And for the Japanese-style dressing:
Yes, tomatoes! I love them! They are the perfect ingredient for any salad - juicy, sweet, tangy, and such a great color! Unfortunately, most store bought tomatoes, even the "on the vine" type, don't have much flavor, which is why you need great salad dressing!
The image looks almost like the cherry tomatoes I grow - which taste extra good!
Onions! Something my family eats all the time! They seem rather humble, but they impart the best flavor whether cooked or uncooked. Amazing!
I like to use red onions in salads, but with this Japanese-style dressing it's really not necessary. The humble white ones serve the purpose just perfectly
When you've sliced up the tomatoes and onions they go in a bowl. I like to see them, so I use a clear glass bowl. This one is rather nice. And of course, a Pyrex bowl works just fine too!
Glass 6.8-inch diameter salad bowl from Italy.
Attractive and reasonably priced!
Here is the contemporary version of that well-loved Pyrex bowl that everyone's grandmother had!
I love this one, and the smaller ones that fit inside. Can be used for anything - mixing, cooking, serving, and of course it does a great job of serving tomato and onion salad!
The key to Japanese salad dressing, and most Japanese food really, is in the soy sauce. Japanese style soy sauce is not the same as the Chinese version. So don't use the stuff you get at Chinese restaurants! We always use Kikkoman soy sauce, it tastes great and isn't really so expense. Since my husband uses it for almost every meal we buy large containers of it - I especially like this size because the plastic container is easy to handle and pour from. One more thing, if you are worried about sodium, and yes soy sauce is salty, you can use the "low sodium" version.
Sesame oil has a very strong flavor and truly defines this Japanese-style salad dressing, replacing the traditional vegetable or olive oil of western style salad dressings.
Seasoned rice vinegar is actually the vinegar used for making sushi. It has a clean taste that is mellower than distilled white vinegar and the seasoning imparts a slightly sweet flavor.
When combined with sesame oil it makes the best salad dressing to accompany Japanese dishes.
We always get this Marukan brand - tastes great and not too expensive!
Japanese cooking wine is also made from rice, and is somewhat sweet. Known as "Mirin" it imparts a lovely flavor to many dishes.
Here it is an essential ingredient in the salad dressing.
To make enough for 3-4 people:
Slice them all and put in the salad bowl.
Mix together in a bowl.
Pour onto the salad and toss well.
Serve immediately, or chill first.
This salad is pleasantly Japanese in flavor. The soy sauce does make it rather salty so it fits rather well with steamed white rice, the staple of Japanese food.
In my family we eat this salad with Mabo Dofu (a dish made with beef and tofu), or with gyoza (fried dumplings also known as potstickers), which are both served with rice. Both seem to go well with the tangy salad.
Naturally it can be served in separate salad bowls. Alternatively, such as when we eat gyoza, we just take small amounts of the salad on top of our rice bowls, allowing the dressing to soak into the rice - mmm, tastes so good!
Delicious, easy to make salad! Perfect for tomato and avocado lovers.
Masala Chai TeaMasala Chai is an Indian black tea made with spices, milk and sugar.
I Published “My Reflections”on 10/02/2025
Best "Nutcracker" Movie of all Timeon 03/08/2019
Lascaux Cave Paintingson 01/18/2018
Bridges of the Hudson Valleyon 11/20/2017
Are you ready to try this salad?
Yes, cucumbers, that would be lovely! My sister loves cucumbers so she would definitely include them.
I have often seen this with cucumbers as a third ingredient.
anything with tomatoes and onions in is a winner for us here.
Ty for this lovely recipe.