Red-and-White Namasu (紅白なます, Kōhaku Namasu)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Sharp knife, or mandoline with julienne blade and hand guard
• •Mixing bowl
• •Clean kitchen cloth, or your hands for gentle pressing
• •Small nonreactive bowl for the vinegar dressing

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut the vegetables

   Cut the daikon and carrot into fine matchsticks, about 2 to 3 inches long. Keep the carrot thinner or use less of it, because its color and firmness can bully the daikon if you give it equal rank. The look should be mostly white with bright red-orange threads running through it.

   A mandoline with a julienne blade is a sensible stand-in for knife work here, but use the guard. A clean, even cut seasons evenly and keeps the dish light.
2. 2

   Salt and rest

   Put the daikon and carrot in a bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon fine sea salt. Leave them for 20 minutes, turning once. The strands will soften, glisten, and release a small pool of water. That water leaving now is what keeps the vinegar dressing clear and lively later.

3. 3

   Press gently

   Gather the vegetables in your hands and squeeze gently over the bowl, or wrap them in a clean cloth and press. Don't wring them dry as if punishing laundry. You want the raw water gone, but the snap left inside the strands.

   This is the hinge of the dish: too wet and the vinegar turns thin, too dry and the namasu loses its fresh bite.
4. 4

   Mix the vinegar

   In a small bowl, stir the rice vinegar, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until the sugar dissolves. Taste it. It should be bright first, then lightly sweet, not syrupy. Kōhaku namasu is a palate-cleaner, not a dessert pretending to be a pickle.

5. 5

   Dress and wait

   Add the pressed vegetables to the sweet vinegar and toss with the yuzu peel if using. Rest at least 30 minutes before serving, and an hour is better. The vinegar needs time to enter the cut surfaces, and the strands need time to settle into one clean flavor.

6. 6

   Plate with restraint

   Lift the namasu from the dressing, letting excess vinegar drip back into the bowl, and mound it lightly in a small dish. Build a little height and leave the vessel room. A New Year table has plenty to say; this dish speaks best in a clear voice.

Chef Tips

• •Choose daikon that feels heavy and firm, with smooth skin and no spongy top. Winter daikon is the one you want, sweet and juicy at its shun, and it needs very little persuasion.
• •Keep the carrot to about one part carrot to six or seven parts daikon. The name says red and white, but the white must lead, or the dish loses its calm.
• •If you use yuzu, use only the colored peel and none of the bitter white pith. A few threads are enough. Leave it room.
• •Rice vinegar gives the cleanest finish. A stronger Western vinegar will make the dish harsh unless diluted, and harshness is not honesty.

Advance Preparation

• •Kōhaku namasu is best made at least 1 hour ahead, and it keeps well for 2 days refrigerated.
• •For osechi, make it the day before New Year and store it covered in its dressing. Lift it out and drain lightly just before plating.
• •If the flavor sharpens too much after storage, add a pinch of sugar and a few drops of fresh rice vinegar, then toss gently.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 110g)