Daikon-Carrot Salad with Sesame and Lemon

As Sonoko Sakai, author of “Japanese Home Cooking” explains, many vinegared Japanese salads fall somewhere between a pickle and a conventional salad, and this namasu is a good example. Meant to be served in small portions, as most Japanese pickles are, this daikon and carrot salad is traditional at New Year’s, but there’s no reason the refreshingly crunchy, tangy-sweet tangle of textures can’t be served year-round. For our adaptation of Sakai’s recipe, we skipped the harder-to-source ingredients (such as dried persimmon and yuzu) for the more widely available substitutes that she suggests (dried apricots and lemon). We also use water instead of dashi (Japanese stock) for the marinade, but if you have dashi, use an equal amount; it will add umami to make the vegetables taste fuller and richer. Though the salad is simple to make, it requires a two-step process: first, the vegetables are rubbed with salt and squeezed of moisture. Then they are dressed and marinated for at least four hours (or up to one week). A mortar and pestle works well for grinding the sesame seeds, or give them two or three pulses in an electric spice grinder.