KitchenNippon

Ingredients】(4 Servings)
Lotus root (れんこん / Renkon)……80g
Daikon (大根 / Daikon)……100g
Daikon greens (大根の葉/ Daikon no ha)……20g
Carrots (にんじん / Ninjin)……40g
Dried shītake (干しいたけ / Hoshi shītake)……1
Abura-ageh (油揚げ / Abura-ageh)……1/2
Sesame oil (ごま油 / Goma-abura)……1tsp

Sweet Vinegar Ingredients
Vinegar (酢/ Su)……3tbsp
Sugar (砂糖 / Satōh)……2tbsp
Salt kōji (Salt (塩/ Shio)麹 / Shio kōji) ……2tsp

Yuzu juice (柚子の果汁 / Yuzu no kajū)……1tbsp
Yuzu skin (柚子の皮 / Yuzu no kawa)……As needed (Use only the top of the fruit)
White sesame seeds (白ごま / Shiro goma)……2tsp

【How to Make】
① Skin the lotus root. Slice it into thin rounds and then cut each of the rounds into quarters. Rinse these in water and drain. Cut the daikon and carrots into thin (about the thickness of a matchstick) rectangles. These should be about 1cm wide and 4cm long. Finely chop the daikon greens. Soak the dried shītake in a bowl with 75ml of water (not listed in the ingredients). After it softens, carefully press the water out (into the bowl) and slice the shītake thinly. Save the water. Douse the abura-ageh with hot water to rinse off some of the oil. Cut it in half and then slice one of the halves into strips about the width of a matchstick.
② Cut the top 1/3 off of the yuzu. Use a spoon to carefully remove the inside of the lower 2/3 of the fruit. Wrap the scooped-out fruit in a clean towel and squeeze out the juice. Remove the skin from the top 1/3 of the yuzu and mince the skin.
③ Put a pot on medium-high heat, add the sesame oil and then begin frying the lotus root. Stir a few times and then add the daikon. Once these become translucent, add the daikon greens, carrots, shītake, and abura-ageh, and fry for a few more seconds until everything softens.
④ Add the sweet vinegar ingredients (vinegar, sugar, and shio kōji). Once the liquid boils turn off the heat. Transfer to a cookie sheet or something similar, and spread everything out to let it cool.
⑤ Add the yuzu juice, yuzu skin, and white sesame seeds, and mix.
⑥ Serve in the scooped-out yuzu skins.

Namasu (膾 or なます)
Namasu is a popular osechi dish because the thin white slices of daikon and the thin orange (red, if you stretch your imagination a bit) slices of carrot are reminiscent of the white and red strings that symbolize good fortune and are tied around gifts and envelopes of money, such as those often given to children during the New Year holiday.