This was a bona-fide hit at our ChristmaHanuKwaanzaKah dinner. (Since we were kind of burned out on “traditional” food after Thanksgiving, we made mostly non-traditional dishes for Dec. 25—or traditional foods with a “twist,” such as this one.) I omitted the salt, and didn't find that the dish suffered at all for it—though I did salt the cooking water, and flavored it with vegetable broth (non-vegetarians could try chicken or even beef broth; it adds a nice layer of flavor/seasoning). They were delicious straight out of the fridge (since I made them ahead), tossed again to make sure the dressing was well distributed, but I bet they would be great served hot as well.
I think it would be nice with a touch of ginger, but since I only had ground, I skipped it; next time I'll try adding a little. I also used about half apple-cider vinegar and half rice-wine vinegar; that definitely helped push it over into more “Asian” flavors.
Just as an FYI for anyone who has never toasted seeds, I failed miserably when I tried to toast my sesame seeds, and burned them; since I only had *just* enough unburned ones left, I decided to skip it, and added them “raw.” I'm sure toasting them would add more depth of flavor, but the dish did not seem to be worse off without it.
I would not recommend this recipe for someone who doesn't like sesame oil, as one reviewer noted, since fully 1/3 of the oil *IS* sesame. It’s a very strong flavor. I suppose you could try a higher ratio of canola oil
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