TtoE renkon side dish dupe

My local supermarket offers a rotating menu of お惣菜, osozai, or side dishes, which come in plastic clamshell containers. If you've been following my blogs about cooking and sustainability, you're aware that I do my best to reduce plastic use and minimize food waste. So when I saw lotus, snow pea, and carrot salad in the cooler, I gave it a miss in favour of making my own salad.

And over to the produce section I went. Lotus root, れんこん, renkon, is harvested in December and January. I live next door to Ibaraki Prefecture, which provides 95% of the crop, so they're very fresh. I love the delicate flavour and the crisp texture. I also scored a discounted package of さやえんどう, snow peas, another winter vegetable.

The salad I saw had a creamy dressing, so I combined a few tablespoons of mayonnaise, a tablespoon of vinegar, and a dash of soy sauce. I cut the lotus root into rounds, then quarters, and the carrots into thin slices. I blanched each veg one at a time. Blanching the vegetables for 60-90 seconds brings out the colour, preserves flavour, and makes them tender. After they cooled, I tossed them with the dressing and some sesame seeds, salt, and pepper.

The recipe yielded three servings, piquant, crunchy, and sweet.