Made it Monday: Ginger Dipping Sauce

I know it’s cliche, but Mondays are difficult for me. The alarm rings, the water for the coffee boils, and I am left gazing out across rootftops wondering How did I get here? The weekend was…just yesterday….

Luckily, I am what’s known as a thinker-ahead-er, and I return home from my battles with this wild and (sometimes) wonderful city safe in the knowledge that I have pre-prepared an indispensable all-purpose sauce. Originally gleaned from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, this slightly-tweaked Ginger Dipping Sauce has lived constantly in my fridge for about two years now. It’s good on just about everything— scallion pancakes, any kind of rice business, salads, sushi, big bowls of noodles, as a marinade…it’s instant jazz. And it’s so easy. First, get a jar. Then, put these things in it.

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons honey or sugar
~1 inch piece of ginger root, freshly grated
1 scallion, sliced real thin
cayenne pepper (to taste)

And shake it up! And you’re done.

This sauce, like my omnipresent coffee, is just another crutch to get me through another Monday. And Mondays are especially tricky when following a late night Sunday event such as, I don’t know, THE OSCARS (congratulations, “The Artist!”), or yet another self-induced Law & Order marathon.

Pour that sauce out of your jar and pat yourself on the back, because you made it. It’s Monday.

(Erica Quinn is a photographer/sad girl poet/cat blogger currently pursuing her MFA at the Pratt Institute and otherwise writing for Finch and Ada.)

Made it Monday: Ginger Dipping Sauce

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