Recipe: Fat Free Salad Dressings - Basic Guidelines and Recipes

FAT FREE SALAD DRESSINGS
BASIC GUIDELINES AND RECIPES

Tanya: "I'll give a few guidelines for creating your own fat free salad dressings, then samples (Honey Mustard Vinaigrette, Basil Vinaigrette and Indian Dressing) that have worked well for me. Dressing is very forgiving, and if it tastes odd, it is easy enough to fix. I just make as much as I need for our salad that night, since it's so easy to make, and then there's no need to worry about refrigeration, etc."

VINEGAR BASE:
Start with about 1/4 cup of vinegar.
I generally use balsamic vinegar as the base for salads when the rest of the meal is European-style. For Indian, Middle Eastern, and Asian meals, I use brown rice vinegar, which I get at the local ethnic-food store. Otherwise, you can use apple cider vinegar. I don't use white vinegar, since I like a little flavor with my acidic foods.

HERBS OR SPICES:
Add a total of 1/2 to 1 tsp of herbs and spices.
If you want to use an herb, fresh ones are the best. Otherwise, dried will do. I tend to use herbs and spices traditionally used in the style of cuisine I am preparing.

SWEETENER (optional):
Use about 1/2 tsp of sweetener.
This is entirely optional; it just adds another dimension to the dressing. Use a flavorful sweetener, like honey (I've never tried brown rice syrup or malt sweetener, they'd probably be great). Table sugar will add sweetness, but, like white vinegar, little flavor.

MUSTARD (optional):
Use about 1 tsp of prepared mustard.
This, again, is optional, but a nice touch. Don't use yellow mustard. Stoneground and Dijon mustards are tasty. Use sweet hot mustard in Asian-style dressings.

WATER (optional):
Add about 1/4 cup of water if you want to use it.
This will tone down the dressing a bit, if you like to dump a lot of dressing on your salad. I generally don't add water, but then I only dribble a little dressing over each bowl. The dressing is very flavor-saturated, so it actually will spread over two bowls of salad.

RECIPES:
These recipes make dressing for two people.

HONEY MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp honey
1 tsp prepared stoneground mustard

Put all ingredients in a small bowl. Cream together until well blended.

BASIL VINAIGRETTE

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp dried basil (or 1/2 tsp fresh)
1/4 tsp dried oregano (or 1/2 tsp fresh)

Put all ingredients in a small bowl, and stir. Let sit about 10 minutes.

INDIAN DRESSING

1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp prepared sweet-hot mustard

Put all ingredients in a small bowl, and stir. Let sit about 10 minutes.

Adapted from source: Tanya Heikkinen, 1994