Raw
Rakkasei Namasu
Rakkasei namasu — daikon and carrot namasu softened with ground roasted peanuts
Julienned daikon and carrot are dressed in vinegar mixed with ground roasted peanuts. Around Fujinomiya and Fuji, where peanuts are a local crop, the nut's richness is said to soften the vinegar's sharpness in this red-and-white New Year namasu.
- Origin: Shizuoka Fujinomiya
- About 120 km southwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
Rakkasei namasu is a salad of julienned daikon and carrot dressed in a vinegar mix blended with ground roasted peanuts. The classic red-and-white namasu served at New Year's is known for its sweet-and-sour vinegar dressing, but around Fujinomiya and Fuji city, where peanuts are a local specialty, adding ground peanuts for a richer flavor is said to be the norm.
How it's made
Daikon and carrot are julienned, salted, and squeezed until only a little moisture remains. Roasted peanuts are ground in a mortar, then vinegar, sugar, and salt are added and worked in until the peanuts release their oil. The squeezed daikon and carrot are then mixed in. Peanuts boiled whole in the shell, called 'yude rakkasei,' are also said to be a way of eating them unique to this area.
Why it took this shape
Ground peanuts are said to soften the vinegar's sharpness and add a lingering richness, making the dish easier to eat for those who find plain vinegared dishes too sour. Though it is a New Year's dish, it is simple enough to make that households reportedly prepare it year-round, and it is said to have taken root as a namasu shaped by the area's own peanut farming.
Dishes in the same style
- Akagarei no KomaburiRoe-bearing red flounder is sliced into sashimi and tossed with its own boiled, crumbled eggs, a dish from around the Amijiro area of Iwami Town. Said to have descended from a similar dish made with crucian carp roe, it pairs rich eggs with mild, fatty winter flounder for festivals and New Year's.
- Amagi no KawatakeA rare wild freshwater algae, found only in the Kogane River in Asakura, is dressed with sweet or three-flavor vinegar — said to have once been presented to the shogun, and now conservation efforts continue as it's listed as endangered.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Shizuoka
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- BokumeshiSteamed eel and shaved burdock are simmered together and folded into freshly cooked rice. Its name is said to trace to oversized eels unfit for sale, used in staff meals at eel farms along the Oi River — a mixed rice dish of the region.
- Fuji KinkaBred by Shizuoka Prefecture by crossing its own Duroc line, Fujirock, with Jinhua, a rare breed from China's Zhejiang province — found only in Shizuoka. Said to combine Jinhua's tenderness with Fujirock's marbling.
- Fujieda Asa RamenA town that eats ramen at breakfast — often a hot bowl followed by a cold one.
- Fujinomiya YakisobaIt grew up as a postwar snack at Fujinomiya's candy shops and okonomiyaki stalls. Its identity rests on three local staples: chewy steamed noodles, pork-lard cracklings called nikukasu, and a sardine-powder topping called dashiko.
- GawaRaw bonito is minced and mixed into a chilled miso broth with cucumber, pickled plum, and shiso. Its name is said to come from the "gawa-gawa" sound of stirring miso into ice water aboard a fishing boat — originally a summer meal made at sea.