Carrot + daikon = a sweet, strengthening, grounding combination of vegetables. Here, each root vegetable is shredded into spaghetti-like strips, mixed, dressed and topped with pumpkin seeds.

serves 3

INgredients

1 large daikon radish

2 medium sized carrots

2 Tablespoons pumpkin seeds

1 lemon

¼ red onion

1 teaspoon tahini

3 drops soy sauce

pinch sea salt

Process   Dry roast the pumpkin seeds: place them in a warm stainless steel or cast iron skillet. On medium-high heat, roast them, turning them continuously, until each side of each seed makes contact with the heat, and seeds become a golden brown color. Set aside.

Use a serrated knife to scrape the skin of the daikon and carrots to remove rough, brown skin and tiny hairs. Wash them well. Use a julienne peeler tool to shred the carrot and daikon. Begin with the daikon; it is white and, although you will wash it before you shred the next vegetable, best to avoid finding any tiny orange carrot pieces in the daikon strips. Use the tool like a classic peeler, moving from top to bottom.

Place them in a bowl,

add a pinch of sea salt and mix them together using your hands. Try to separate each strand and mix the carrot and daikon together. Make the dressing: squeeze the lemon and pour into a bowl. Chop the red onion into tiny pieces and add it to the lemon juice. Add the tahini and the soy sauce

and whisk it all together with a small whisk or a fork. Pour it over the vegetables and mix. Serve in individual bowls,topped with the roasted pumpkin seeds. My 7-year-old daughter created this variation: after making the salad she topped it with fresh strawberries, greens and all.

©Nancy Wolfson-Moche 2014