“Also known as Japanese horseradish or mooli, daikon looks like a bigger, uglier, knobbier parsnip and, if its flavor can be likened to anything, it is reminiscent of a finer, less fiery radish.”
- From the cookbook Cooking Vegetables.
If you have a CSA subscription, chances are you have found a daikon radish in your share recently. Daikon radishes are a staple in Asian cuisine, the name daikon is actually Japanese for "great root." They're a prolific vegetable and can often grow up to 20" in length with a diameter of 4"! Recently, reporter Josh Rogers was the recipient of a rather large daikon radish, and asked: what do you do with this?
Cold/Raw Recipes
Daikon makes a nice crunchy contribution to a salad or sandwich. Wash and peel the radish, then grate, shred or slice thin. If your particular specimen is rather large, you might want to skip to one of the cooking suggestions; the smaller radishes are typically better for raw applications.
Traditional kimchi is made with cabbage, but the flavors and spices used to pickle cabbage also work well with radishes. This is a cold recipe in which large radishes are preferred.
A simple and quick refrigerator pickle recipe, you'll be able to enjoy your radishes the very next day!
Do Chua (Vietnamese Pickled Carrot and Daikon Radish)
Do Chua is a traditional Vietnamese pickle, the addition of carrots adds color, flavor and texture to the jar.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound carrots, julienned or cut into match-like strips
- 1/2 pound daikon radish, julienned or cut into match-like strips
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Directions
- In a large bowl, mix water, sugar and salt. Stir until sugar and salt completely dissolved.
- Add carrot and daikon strips into the bowl and mix well.
- Transfer to sterilized jars. Seal and refrigerate for at least overnight before consuming. It should last about 1 month in the refrigerator.
Recipe via RedShallotKitchen.com
Hot/Cooked Recipes
Daikon are relatively interchangeable with turnips so they can easily be added to stews and soups to offset the richness of slow cooked meat. When slow cooked, daikon turns soft and mellow and absorbs a bit of the flavor from the cooking liquid.
A bit like a potato cake, this recipe features grated daikon and a few basic ingredients to make a tasty little cake that would go well with a variety of main courses.
If you're already making Kale chips from your CSA bounty, why not add radish chips to your repertoire?
Ingredients:
- Daikon radish, washed peeled and sliced thinly (a mandolin works nicely)
- 3T olive oil (additional note on this below)
- Paprika
- Salt and pepper
Directions:
Turn oven broiler on and mix the daikon slices with the oil in spices in a bowl. Lay the slices on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Cooking time will vary, so watch the chips closely once you put them in the oven. (Tim Vidra has a cautionary photo of what happens if you let the chips cook too long!)
Recipe via TimVidraEats
A traditional Indian stuffed pancake, this recipe for Mooli Paratha suggests using the fresh leaves from your radishes.
Do you have any favorite daikon radish recipes? Tell us about it in the comments!
