The dressing is the dish

April 3, 2026

Say ‘dressing’, and most people think salad. But spend any time around Monique's cooking, and that idea falls apart rather quickly.

Monique has been feeding the SUSAN BIJL team for nearly five years. You may already know her from our miso soup recipe , or the seaweed and tofu rolls that have become something of an office institution. Her cooking is rooted in macrobiotic principles and a genuine love of Japanese ingredients, but much of her inspiration comes from Peter Burley's The Modern Vegetarian, a book that approaches vegetables, grains and fermented things with rigour and respect.

What Burley and Monique share is a quiet insistence that a good dressing does far more than dress. It can be the whole point. A grain bowl without the right finish is just grains. Roasted vegetables without something to pull them together are fine, but forgettable. The dressing is where the dish finds its character, and in Monique's kitchen, that often means reaching for things you might not expect. Miso thinned with rice vinegar. Umeboshi paste cut through with mustard. Tahini loosened with orange juice. Monique uses shoyu, where you'd normally use salt. Ingredients that have been quietly brilliant in Japanese kitchens for centuries, doing exactly this kind of work.

The recipes below prove the point. Yes, some of them go on salad. But they also go on noodles, on steamed greens, on roasted squash, stirred through warm quinoa, spooned over whatever needs a bit of life. Think of the salad bowl as just one possibility among many.

Creamy miso vinaigrette (Team’s favourite!)

Serves 4

120g soft tofu
3 tbsp cider vinegar
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp white miso or barley miso
4 garlic cloves (crushed), 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tbsp umeboshi paste
1 tbsp honey, 25ml olive oil
1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 heads of butter lettuce.

Blend the tofu with the vinegar, lemon juice, miso, garlic, umeboshi and honey until smooth.

Gradually add the olive oil and blend until a thick, creamy sauce forms.

Either pour the dressing over the lettuce leaves directly, or serve it in a small bowl in the centre of a large plate, with the leaves arranged around it and scattered with parsley.

Celery salad with vinaigrette and toasted walnuts

Serves 4

6 large stalks of celery
40g roughly chopped walnuts
1 tbsp umeboshi paste
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
3 small garlic cloves (finely chopped)
2 tbsp cane sugar or maple syrup
coarse sea salt
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Remove the tough strings from the celery stalks. Pick 4 tbsp of the inner leaves, discard the rest, finely chop the leaves, and set aside. Cut the stalks on the diagonal into pieces roughly 1.5cm thick and 2.5cm long. Place in a bowl of ice-cold water and leave to crisp up.

Toast the walnuts in a dry pan over a medium heat for 6–7 minutes, shaking occasionally, until they start to smell nutty. Tip into a sieve to cool. Once cool enough to handle, rub them against the mesh to remove as much skin as possible.

Whisk together the umeboshi paste, mustard, garlic, sugar and a pinch of salt. Slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking to a smooth emulsion.

Drain and pat the celery dry. Toss in a large bowl with the walnuts and dressing. Divide between 4 plates and finish with the chopped celery leaves.

Coleslaw with arame (type of kelp)

Serves 4

25g dried arame
650g pointed cabbage (finely shredded into 1.5cm strips)
6 spring onions (green and white parts, sliced into rings)
1 carrot (coarsely grated), 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
2 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
4 tbsp rice vinegar or cider vinegar
2 tbsp mirin
coarse sea salt
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oi

Soak the arame in 500ml warm water for 10 minutes.

Combine the cabbage, spring onions and carrot in a large bowl.

Drain the arame, chop into 2.5cm pieces and add to the bowl. Mix together the garlic, ginger, vinegar, mirin, salt, chilli flakes and both oils. Pour over the vegetables, toss well and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.