Recipe: How to Make Fat Free Salad Dressing, 2 Vinaigrettes and Indian Dressing

FAT FREE SALAD DRESSINGS

"I'll give a few guidelines for creating your own FF salad dressings, then a couple of samples that have worked well for me. These recipes make dressing for two people. Dressing is very forgiving, and if it tastes odd, it is easy enough to fix." - Tanya Heikkinen

VINEGAR BASE:
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 :-) Start with about 1/4 cup of vinegar.

HERB OR SPICE:
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. Add a total of 1/2 to 1 tsp of herbs and spices.

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. Use about 1/2 tsp of sweetener.

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. Use about 1 tsp of prepared mustard.

WATER:
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. Add about 1/4 cup of water if you want to use it.

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 fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp prepared sweet-hot mustard

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

Source: Tanya Heikkinen