Goma Dare – Japanese Sesame Sauce

A creamy, nutty, Japanese sesame sauce known as Goma Dare. It’s perfect for dipping pork and veggies in shabu shabu hot pot, drizzling over crisp salads or freshly cooked noodles.

Why We Love This

It feels so satisfying to whip up your favourite dipping sauce in two minutes flat at a moment’s notice. Better yet, you can tweak it til it tastes juuust right – adding a little more tahini for a more intense sesame burst, or soften it out with an extra dash of mirin or mayonnaise for sweetness and creaminess.

What is Goma Dare? 

Goma means sesame in Japanese. Goma dare (pronounced gohma dahreh) is a delicious sesame based dipping sauce which is most known for pairing perfectly with simmered pork and vegetables in shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot). It’s usually served up beside a bowl of ponzu – a citrusy soy sauce which is a complete contrast to the sweet creaminess of sesame sauce.

This sauce used to be made with toasted sesame seeds that were finely ground before being mixed with the other ingredients. However, today we’re sharing a simplified method to make this sesame sauce with tahini. The biggest difference (apart from convenience and time saving!) is in the texture – tahini paste is already perfectly smooth and creamy.

We also added Kewpie mayonnaise for a creamier version, we feel this helps to cut down on the bitterness of the sauce and is a little closer to the sesame sauce you can buy in the supermarket.

What You’ll Need

Apart from tahini and sugar, you’ll need a few key Japanese ingredients for this sesame sauce in your pantry. Staple Japanese condiments such as soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, Kewpie mayonnaise, red miso paste, dashi powder and mirin all come to play in this recipe. You’ll find all these ingredients at Asian supermarkets or online.

Rice Wine Vinegar

Like the name implies, this vinegar is made from rice through fermentation. Unlike regular white vinegar, it’s sweeter and less acidic. The varieties found at Asian supermarkets are usually Chinese or Japanese in origin and are fine to use for this recipe. You can also substitute with apple cider vinegar.

Dashi Powder

We use dashi powder to speed things up, it’s a Japanese stock powder made from fish and seaweed, which is what gives the dish that unique umami flavour you’re looking for.

How to make Goma Dare Dipping Sauce:

Add all of the ingredients into a small mixing bowl.

Mix well to make sure everything is evenly blended.

To serve, pour 2 tablespoons of sesame sauce into a small dipping bowl for each person.

Wandercook’s Tips

• Adding mayonnaise makes the sauce slightly thicker and creamier, but you can leave it out if you prefer.
• This sauce can also be used as a dip for raw veggies, drizzled over freshly cooked noodles, or even spread over grilled chicken or Japanese hamburgers for extra flavour.
• To use it as a salad dressing, thin it out a little with extra water or a splash of rice wine vinegar.
• For a beautiful garnish, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds or gomashio sesame salt and a swirl of sesame oil.
• When serving, add a small dob of minced ginger for extra flavour.

FAQs

Variations & Substitutes

• For a vegan version, use kombu dashi powder and omit the mayonnaise. The sauce will be slightly less thick and creamy but still taste thoroughly delicious! Alternatively, make our naturally vegan sister sauce, roasted sesame dressing, instead!
• If you want to avoid MSG, substitute the dashi powder and add 1 tsp salt instead, also omit the mayonnaise.
• Rice wine vinegar can be substituted with regular vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
• Red miso can be substituted with white miso or left out altogether.
• For an ultra easy version, try Sarah’s creamy sesame dressing instead.

Looking for more Japanese treats? These are some of our favourites:

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