Namasu (Daikon and Carrot Salad)

Adapted from Japanese Home Cooking: Simple Meals, Authentic Flavors, by Sonoko Sakai. In her excellent 2019 book, Sakai explains that “many Japanese salads fall somewhere between a salad and a pickle,” and she points out that they are meant to be served in small portions as a nibble. This one, which Sakai explains is a “good luck food eaten during New Year’s,” but which she likes to serve year-round, strikes us as distinctly pickly.

Wylie and I both fell in love with it, and we’re happy to have a large jar of it in the fridge; we’ve kept it much longer than the one week Sakai says it lasts in the fridge. Perhaps not surprisingly, Thierry couldn’t stand its smell two weeks into its life. We are still eating it a month later (mostly as in ingredient in or garnish on other dishes) and love its funkiness. We recommend you eat it fresh instead!

Makes 4 - 6 servings.

Ingredients

1 pound daikon, peeled and julienned into 2-inch matchsticks

1 medium carrot, julienned into 2-inch matchsticks

1 teaspoon sea salt

For the pickling solution

3/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup cane sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup kombu dashi (for instructions, see recipe notes at the end of the recipe for Dashi) or water

For the garnish

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, coarsely ground with mortar and pestle

1/2 dried red chile, seeded and chopped

1 teaspoon lemon, yuzu or sudachi (Japanese lime) zest

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the daikon and carrots. Add the salt and massage it into the vegetables for 2 to 3 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes then squeeze the vegetables to remove any excess water.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sugar, salt and dashi. Add the dressing to the daikon and carrots and toss gently. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

3. Serve the salad garnished with the sesame seeds, chile and citrus zest. The salad will keep (ungarnished) in the refrigerator for one week. Add the garnish just before serving.

Recipe notes

• We made the salad using lemon zest.

• Sakai’s original recipe lists 4 servings as the yield; if the servings are to be “small nibbles” as she suggests, it will serve five or six.