Namasu

((daikon radish, carrot))

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Namasu

NAMASU is a popular Japanese sunomono dish. All sunomono dishes are made with ingredients lightly pickled with vinegar dressing. NAMASU tastes best when the individual flavors of each ingredient begin to blend together.

At Domo NAMASU is made by shredding daikon radish and carrots into matchstick-size pieces, sprinkling lightly with salt and gently mixing everything together by hand. Squeezing out excess water and adding rice vinegar dressing by hand intensifies the original taste of the ingredients.

It is believed that NAMASU was being served to nobles more than a thousand years ago in Japan. Red and white, represented by the carrot and daikon radish, symbolizes good luck for happy occasions. Therefore, NAMASU is often served at celebrations such as holidays, weddings, anniversaries and birthdays.

The daikon radish, a large, white root vegetable, has long been a traditional food for the Japanese people. There are more than 100 varieties of daikon radishes grown in Japan. Each variety can be cooked in a number of ways. Daikon is delicious served in soups and stews. Fresh daikon can be shredded and seasoned to make a juicy, crunchy, chilled salad dish. (NAMASU is the Japanese equivalent of a fresh side salad in the United States.) Grated daikon radish is a common condiment served with fish or meats and can be added to other dishes, as well.

A great culinary tradition in Japan is “tsukemono,” or pickles, usually made in fall for the long, harsh winters. Daikon pickles are made by preserving daikon radishes in miso paste, salt, rice bran and other tasty seasonings. Every Japanese household has its own family recipe for making tsukemono that is passed down from generation to generation. Daikon tsukemono (pickles) are also called “takuwan.” It is said that in the 1600s, the Zen Buddhist Priest Takuwan Oshou created the first recipe for preserving daikon radishes. His “takuwan” were so delicious that even the ruling lords demanded Priest Takuwan Oshous pickles for their tables.

The active enzyme in daikon radish is known to aid digestion, particularly of starchy foods. Thus, it is no coincidence that daikon radish has been a staple in a Japanese diet, which is high in carbohydrates in the form of rice, various grains and beans. Daikon radish is also high in vitamin C. During the whale-hunting era, the English sailors suffering from scurvy due to lack of vitamin C stopped at Japanese ports for fresh daikon radish to cure their life-threatening ailments. Sailors even resorted to rubbing daikon juice on their skin to alleviate their digestive woes. The captains of the ships would have to hide these precious roots below deck to keep the sailors from devouring them.

One serving of NAMASU provides approximately:
20 calories (1%),  5 grams carbohydrates , 0.8 grams dietary fiber (3%) ,  0.3 grams protein, 0 grams fat, 0 % cholesterol,  16% Vitamin A, 12% vitamin C, 1% iron, 5% potassium, and 8 % sodium.

Supplier: Shamrock Foods, Nishimoto Trading Co.
Product origin: USA, Mexico