Namasu Rice Salad With Pickled Daikon Radish And Carrots Food

NAMASU RICE SALAD WITH PICKLED DAIKON RADISH AND CARROTS

Steps:

• Whisk rice vinegar, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt together in a bowl; add carrots and radish and stir until well-coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until flavors blend, at least 1 hour. Drain.
• Bring water and rice to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes. Spread rice out on a baking sheet and cool to room temperature.
• Whisk vegetable oil, lime juice, ginger, sesame oil, garlic, chile paste, and remaining salt together in a large bowl. Add rice, drained carrot mixture, cilantro, peanuts, and green onions to the bowl; stir until salad is well-coated. Serve warm or cold.

THE WORLD OF RICE SALADS

Steps:

• Put the rice and all the vegetables in a large bowl. Drizzle with vinaigrette and use two big forks to combine, fluffing the rice and tossing gently to separate the grains.
• Stir in the parsley, taste, and adjust the seasoning or moisten with a little more dressing. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate for up to a day, bringing the salad back to room temperature before serving.
• Variations:
• Rice Salad, Japanese Style: Use brown or white short-grain rice. Halve the amount of celery and carrot and finely chop them or shred them on a grater. Add 1 cup cubed firm tofu (preferably baked). Instead of the vinaigrette, toss with 1/4 cup or so of Simple Miso Dipping Sauce (made by whisking together 6 tablespoons miso paste, 3/4 cup warm water or sake, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon mirin or honey, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar plus more to taste, and salt to taste). Instead of the parsley, crumble 2 sheets of nori over the rice salad and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons black or white sesame seeds.
• Rice Salad, Mexican Style: Long-grain or medium-grain, white or brown, all work well here. When blending the vinaigrette, add 1 tablespoon chili powder and 2 tablespoons Mexican crema or mayonnaise. Instead of celery and carrot, add 1 cup chopped fresh tomato. Substitute chopped fresh cilantro for the parsley and, at the same time, add 2 chopped hard-cooked eggs and chopped jalapeño chiles if you like. Serve with lime wedges.
• Rice Salad, Indian Style: Use brown or white basmati rice. When making the vinaigrette, use rice wine vinegar, replace the oil with coconut milk, and add 1 tablespoon curry powder, or more to taste. Instead of the bell pepper, celery, and carrot, add 1/2 cup each cubed cooked potato, cooked cauliflower florets, and green peas (cooked frozen are fine). Substitute cilantro for the parsley.
• Citrus Rice Salad: Use any rice. Instead of red wine vinegar, make the vinaigrette with freshly squeezed citrus juice-choose from lemon, lime, orange, blood orange, tangerine, pink grapefruit, or a combination. Whatever you use, add 2 tablespoons of the grated zest and 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey to the blender. Do not include the scallion or the vegetables. (You might want to use a little less dressing.) Instead of the parsley, use mint if you like. A handful of chopped almonds or pecans make a nice addition.
• Tomato Rice Salad: Use any kind of brown or white rice. When making the vinaigrette, eliminate the vinegar and add 1 medium tomato to the blender. Instead of the scallion and other vegetables, add 2 cups chopped fresh tomato (a mixture of heirloom varieties is nice).Instead of the parsley, use chopped fresh basil or mint, or 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives, chervil, dill, or about a tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves.

ASIAN NOODLE SALAD

Steps:

• Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water. Meanwhile, clean, stem, and slice mushrooms. Add mushrooms and red bell pepper during last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain.
• In a small bowl, mix together vinegar, soy sauce, oil, and ginger.
• Transfer pasta, mushrooms, and pepper to a serving bowl; toss with ginger dressing. Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

JAPANESE PICKLED DAIKON AND CARROT SALAD

Steps:

• Peel and finely shred carrot and daikon.
• Put vegetables into large bowl; sprinkle with salt and let stand for 30 minutes.
• Gently squeeze out as much water as possible from vegetables.
• In a bowl, combine vinegar, soy sauce, ginger and sugar, stirring until sugar dissolves.
• add vegetables and refrigerate for 8 hours.
• Salad will keep for up to 1 week in sealed container in refrigerator.

MARINATED DAIKON AND CARROT SALAD (NAMASU)

Steps:

• Cut the carrot and daikon into the thinest strips you can; I use a zester to do this and it works really well.
• Sprinkle the vegetables with the half teaspoon of salt and allow to stand in a colander 10-15 minutes or until limp.
• Transfer to a bowl.
• Mix the remaining ingredients together and pour over the vegetables.
• Taste for salt.
• This can be used immediately, but marinating it for 24 hours will improve it; just keep it well covered as the radish can be a bit"smelly'" in your fridge.

PICKLED CARROTS AND DAIKON

Steps:

• Julienne the carrots and daikon. How you cut them affects the pickles' texture, so see the section on cutting root vegetables in the headnotes above.
• Sprinkle the daikon and carrots with the salt and toss to distribute evenly. Set this aside for at least 15 minutes to allow the excess water to come out of the vegetables.
• Add the vinegar, sugar, and konbu to a small non-reactive saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn off the heat and let it cool down to room temperature. Leave the konbu in the vinegar until it has cooled, and then remove and discard.
• When the carrots and daikon are limp, drain off all of the excess liquid from the vegetables and add the cooled vinegar mixture. Stir to combine.
• Grate some yuzu zest into the Namasu. This can be served immediately but will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.