This is one of the simplest sweet pickle recipes. Cut carrot and daikon into thin sticks and marinate in a sweet vinegar marinade. That all there is to it.
Pickled Carrot and Daikon Recipe (Kōhaku Namasu) is a must-have food in the Japanese New Year’s feast. The long preservation time also is perfect for such an occasion. It’s a vegetarian dish and a convenient item to stock in the fridge at any time.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 60g/2.1oz carrot
- 180g/6.3oz daikon (white radish)
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp lemon rind julienned (optional, note 1)
- 4 tbsp rice wine vinegar (note 2)
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp konbu dashi (note 3)
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Cut carrot into 3mm/⅛" wide, 6cm/2⅜” long matchsticks, and daikon into 4mm/3⁄16" wide, 6cm long matchsticks (note 4).
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Put the carrot and daikon sticks in a bowl, sprinkle salt over them and mix well, ensuring that the salt is spread over the vegetable sticks evenly.
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Leave for 10-15 minutes to wilt the vegetable sticks.
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Put sugar and konbu dashi in a small saucepan and heat it up until the sugar is dissolved completely (note 5). Add vinegar, mix to make a pickling liquid.
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Take a handful of wilted vegetables at a time, squeeze the water out of the vegetables and place them in a container with a lid or a zip lock bag.
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Put the lemon rind pieces and the pickling liquid into the container/bag.
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If you are using a container, seal the surface of the pickles with a piece of cling wrap with no air bubbles underneath the cling wrap, then place the lid on (note 6).
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If you are using a zip lock bag, remove the air from the bag as much as possible before sealing the bag.
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Store in the fridge. It is best to pickle for at least 1 hour (note 7), preferably overnight.
1. If you can get the Japanese citrus called yuzu, use yuzu rind instead of lemon rind. Yuzu is more aromatic.
2. For today’s dish, please do not substitute with standard white vinegar if possible. The acidity of the white vinegar is too sharp.
3. Instead of konbu dashi, you can use standard dashi stock. But using konbu dashi makes it vegetarian.
4. The thickness and length does not need to be super accurate. Slightly thicker/thinner/longer/shorter sticks are OK.
The carrot sticks are marginally thinner than the daikon sticks. This is because the balance of red and white vegetables is best in this way.
5. You don't need to bring it to a boil. As an alternative, you can put it in a microwave safe container and heat it up.
6. When you place a piece of cling wrap on the surface, the pickling liquid comes to the top layer of the vegetables, allowing all the vegetable sticks to pickle evenly.
7. Kōhaku Namasu keeps 7-10 days in the fridge. You can also freeze it for 1 month.
8. Nutrition per serving.
serving: 101g calories: 56kcal fat: 0.2g (0%) saturated fat: 0.1g (0%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 0.1g monounsaturated fat: 0g cholesterol: 0.1mg (0%) sodium: 635mg (26%) potassium: 173mg (5%) carbohydrates: 13g (4%) dietary fibre: 1.2g (5%) sugar: 11g protein: 0.8g vitamin a: 50% vitamin c: 13% calcium: 1.9% iron: 1.8%