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Julienned daikon and carrot pickled in a sweet vinegar sauce, Namasu is a refreshing salad commonly served as a Japanese New Year’s dish. You’d love this bright and just slightly sharp flavor!
Namasu (紅白なます) is daikon and carrot salad lightly pickled in sweetened vinegar. Crunchy, slightly sharp with a bright refreshing taste, Namasu can be enjoyed all year round.
What is Namasu?
Namasu (なます) is daikon and carrot salad lightly pickled in sweetened vinegar. It’s also called Kohaku (red and white) Namasu (紅白なます). It was first introduced to Japan from China around the 700s (Nara period).
Red and white are considered celebratory colors in Japan and these colors are often used in many traditional ceremonies. Namasu has been especially enjoyed during the New Year in Japan and you can find this dish in Osechi Ryori (Japanese New Year foods).
Watch How to Make Namasu (Daikon & Carrot Salad)
Julienned daikon and carrot pickled in a sweet vinegar sauce, Namasu is a refreshing salad commonly served as a Japanese New Year’s dish. You’d love this bright and just slightly sharp flavor!
Why We Should Make Namasu?
- Easy and kept well – Namasu is extremely easy to make and can be prepared ahead of time.
- Goes well with any dish – If you like lightly pickled salad, you will enjoy this dish as an appetizer or as a side to your main dishes like grilled fish and meat. I like to add this in the kids’ bento boxes as well.
- Add colors to your meal – Wonderful way to introduce multiple colors to your plate! Besides daikon and carrot, you can also include cucumbers for another layer of color and crunch.
- Easily accessible ingredients – No special ingredients necessary. Crunchy root vegetables along with sugar, salt, and rice vinegar.
3 Tips to Make Japanese Daikon & Carrot Salad
- Even thickness – Whether you cut into julienned strips by yourself or use a mandolin or a julienne peeler, try to have equal shapes for the best texture.
- Squeeze! – The key to this dish is to make sure to squeeze out all the liquid from the veggie, it creates optimal crunchiness.
- A hint of citrus – In Japan, there are usually a few strips of yuzu zest added on top of the salad. Yuzu strips add an amazing citrus fragrance to the dish. For those lucky ones who can access to fresh yuzu in your area, you’d definitely want to include it in this salad.
If you’re serving namasu for your Osechi Ryori (New Year’s food), don’t forget to check out the other popular dishes which I shared here.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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- 14 oz daikon radish (380 g, 4", 10 cm)
- 3 oz carrot (90 g, 2", 5 cm)
- 1 tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- 1-2 strips yuzu zest (optional)
- 1 ½ Tbsp sugar
- 1 ½ Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp water
- ¼ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Peel the daikon and cut into 2-inch (5 cm) piece in length. Peel the carrot.
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Cut the daikon in half (this will be the length of daikon in the final dish). Then cut into thin slabs about ⅛-inch (3mm) thickness.
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Then stack a few slabs at a time and cut them into julienned strips, about ⅛-inch (3mm) thickness. Put them in a large bowl.
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Cut the carrot into thin slabs then into julienned strips.
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Add 1 tsp salt and give a gentle massage. Set aside for 10 minutes.
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Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the seasonings in a large bowl.
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Whisk well together until the sugar is completely dissolved.
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Squeeze water from the julienned daikon and carrot and put them in the bowl with the seasonings.
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Peel off the zest of the bottom of yuzu. Remove the pith.
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Cut into julienned strips and garnish on top of Namasu.
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Serve Namasu in a bowl and garnish with yuzu zest. If you have a whole yuzu fruit, you can create a yuzu cup by cutting off the top (this will be a lid) and remove the fruits inside without breaking or tearing the cup. Add Namasu in the yuzu cup to serve.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
I hadn’t known that this dish was so easy! Thanks for sharing the recipe, and I can’t wait to try this out for New Year’s — I absolutely love the sweet and vinegar-y taste. =) I hope that you and your family have a warm and wonderful Christmas!
Hi Kimmi! Yes it’s so easy! I’m glad to hear you have tried this dish before. Thank you for being a wonderful reader Kimmi! Happy New Year to you!
Hi Laura! Thank you for your kind message. 🙂 I’m so happy to hear you enjoy my blog and thank you so much for following my blog! Happy New Year to you and your family!
Sorry for my late response – I’ve been catching up my old emails and found yours! I hope you had a great holiday and Akemashite Omedeto! 🙂
May I know how do you make the daikon and the carrot soft ? It looked soft in the picture.
Hi Kat! By pickling it it. The carrot and daikon will be still crunchy but become more flexible texture.
Hi Nami,
We had this with the ginger rice and salmon. It was delicious and so refreshing. I’m wondering why water is added to the dressing if we salt the vegetables to get rid of the water. And also it seems like it was 2 to 1 ratio daikon to carrot from the pictures and measurements, but the note says 5:1. If I double the recipe to keep in the fridge will it lose crispness? It’s so pretty.
Hi Carmen! Thank you for trying this recipe with ginger rice and salmon recipe! So glad you liked it. 🙂
Salt to the vegetables is not only used for withdrawing water but also making it more wilted. Water to the mixture is to dilute the vinegar so it is not too strong.
About the ratio. Everyone’s daikon and carrot size (how fat and big it is) is different, so 1:5 ratio is just my made up ratio to show that daikon should be primary. 1:2 ratio has too many carrots. It should be mostly white color with pretty red color in between. 🙂
This recipe comes out great and is very easy to make. I’m starting to learn just the basics of Japanese cooking so I made it along with some salted fish and rice, and the pickles MADE the dish. This is now one of my go-to recipes for pickles – meals are haven’t been them without pickled veggies. Thank you!
Hi Silvia! So happy to hear you liked this pickled recipe! I like simple Japanese meal like what you made. I’m happy with grilled fish, miso soup and white rice along with pickles or small sides to enjoy steamed rice. Thank you for your feedback!
Hi Nami.
In the Namasu recipe, you said –
“ Besides daikon and carrot, you can also include cucumbers for another layer of color and crunch.” —
how should I slice the cucumber?
Thanks.
Hi Jackie! It should be all julienned strips. Typically we try to cut the ingredient into same shapes so when you eat, there is harmony. When ingredients are cut into julienned, you will not see some cubed cucumber pieces, for example. This applies to simmered foods etc. Cut into similar shapes and sizes. 🙂
Love this recipe for my bento box! I like to have a mild pickle-y dish as a contrast to everything else, and this fits the bill perfectly. It’s very refreshing and easy to make, with the only time consuming part being cutting the vegetables (I don’t have a mandoline).
It’s also very tasty on a hot dog, in place of relish. The things you try with random fridge leftovers, LOL! Arigatou gozaimasu for a great recipe! <3
Hi Cameron! Thank you for trying this recipe. Oh I love that you’re using it for a hot dog – it cuts the grease and I can totally imagine the taste. YUM! Thanks for inspiring me! 🙂
I had extra Chinese daikon and carrots. The end result was that the daikon was quite bitter. Do you think it is the type of daikon? I notice the Chinese ones are much thicker and bigger. Japanese ones are shorter.
Hi Maggie! I know some daikon is bitter, spicy, and dry… they may work well with braising, but not great for eating raw. Japanese eat daikon raw using it for salad, pickles, etc. So we try to pick juicy, sweet daikon. Even the same daikon, the top green area is sweeter than the bitter root side.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/daikon/ (see green part on top?)
When eating raw, we try to use sweeter parts of daikon. 🙂
Hi Nami,
I love this recipe! It’s so light and refreshing.
I used to slice the daikon and carrots into match sticks with a knife, but I found a Julien peeler in the back of a drawer and it’s cut down the prep time significantly.
Hi Sonia! I’m glad you enjoy this recipe! Oh yeah! I have one of those too! Be careful when it’s closer to the small piece because both daikon and carrot is very dense/hard vegetable and julienne-peeling is a bit hard.
Thank you 😊
Hi Warren,
Thank you so much for trying this recipe!