The Radish Family
Radishes are part of the mustard or Brassicaceae family of vegetables specifically Raphanus sativus and though they were originally cultivated in Asia, they are now grown and consumed worldwide. And though we normally think of the white taproot as the edible part, the leaves are also edible and the color can range from pink in watermelon radishes to purple to green and the whole plant can be consumed both raw and cooked.
Daikon Nutrition
One seven-inch daikon about 12 ounces provides you with 9% of your daily calcium requirement and more than 10% of your daily requirement for magnesium and copper. It also contains more than 20% of your daily requirement for folic acid and potassium and a whopping 125% requirement for Vitamin C along with 5gm of fiber and just 61 calories.
The Simplest Application
The simplest culinary application is using raw daikon – simply peel then grate either to a pulpy consistency or as long threads. When grated to a pulpy consistency then mixed with ponzu, it makes the perfect topping for oysters to grill or broil. When grated into long threads or strings, it makes the perfect bed for sashimi – I do enjoy thinly sliced myoga under my sashimi but myoga isn’t readily available in the 50th and grated daikon is a lot easier on the pocketbook. Long daikon threads mixed with beets and carrots also makes for a colorful bed for grilled teriyaki chicken or pork. When Regional Hawaii Cuisine took off 34 years ago, almost every Pacific Rim restaurant had a salad or entrée topped with this colorful trio. As an aside, one of the twelve founding Regional Hawaii Cuisine chefs was Roger Dikon – no relation to the vegetable…
Borrowed From a Master
Back in 2018, we visited Vintage Cave a 2nd time (our 1st visit was featured in December 2013 – “Underground Dining”) as they were transitioning from a fine dining restaurant to a sushi restaurant. Along with the usual nigiri sushi and simmered or grilled dishes, Chef Benkei had a dish featuring lightly smoked takuan (pickled radish) topped with a mixture of specific shiro miso (white miso) known as Saikyo miso and cream cheese. Food epiphany! For starters, takuan created in the 50th is almost a different dish than takuan created in the motherland. Takuan created in Hawaii has a vivid yellow hue and a very crisp texture with a pronounced acid bite from the vinegar whereas takuan from Japan tends to have a softer texture with more of the moisture purged and doesn’t have as strong of an acid bite. Chef Benkei took this a step further by using thin slices of lightly smoked takuan and layering his mixture of Saikyo miso and cream cheese that gave you sweet, salty, sour and slight bitter notes that you kept going back for. Or in my case, started creating on my own at home. As another aside, takuan is named after the 16th to 17th century Zen Buddhist monk, Takuan Soho who is credited with creating the pickled radish.
Braised or Simmered
Probably the most common cooking application is to braise or simmer cubed or thickly sliced pieces of daikon. And for good reason. Like tofu, daikon doesn’t have a pronounced flavor by itself but tends to absorb flavor in the cooking liquid. However, daikon absorbs those flavors a lot more than tofu and they get released during the process of chewing. That’s why I always add thinly sliced daikon to my miso soup and who hasn’t experienced biting into a round of thickly sliced daikon that was simmered in a rich oden broth where the broth intensifies with each addition of more broth.
I also braise cubed daikon though not in its original state – it’s pickled though not as takuan but rather as kim chee. On those rare occasions that we indulge in braised short ribs, the beef is braised with a whole bottle of radish kim chee including the liquid as well as two hefty dollops of ko choo jang paste (Korean chili paste) once the short rib pieces are browned. Other than additional beef stock and oil to brown the meat, no other ingredients are needed. The beef stock, kim chee and ko choo jang provide the salt so all you need to do is braise it for about 3 hours and you have a hearty alternate to traditional beef stew.
The Sandwich Pickle
My favorite pickle for sandwiches used to be slices of Claussen dill pickles. Because they were always refrigerated even at the market, they provided a nice crunch in the sandwich. But for the last decade or so, the classic Vietnamese do chua or daikon and carrot pickles found in the traditional banh mi has supplanted Claussen. I used to purchase them either at my local farmer’s market or at the supermarket but they’re easily to make… if you have decent knife skills. This is the one time that a food processor’s julienne blade just doesn’t cut it (pun intended). I believe you want wooden matchstick sized pieces and with the food processor, you end up with flatter strips.
Quick Vietnamese Pickled Carrots and Daikon
(Đồ Chua)
1 & ½ cups carrot peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 & ½ cups daikon peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 cups water for soaking
½ tbsp sea salt
¾ cup rice wine vinegar
½ cup boiling water for pickling solution
¼ cup sugar
Soak carrot and daikon in water with salt for 10 minutes then rinse and drain thoroughly. Squeeze them in your hand in small batches to remove even more liquid.
Add boiling water to sugar in a small jug and mix until dissolved, then add in the vinegar.
Transfer the carrot and daikon into a jar and lightly press it all down, then pour over the pickle solution until it’s covered. Give it a quick mix and push everything below the surface. Seal and allow to cool down, then store in the refrigerator. As a last aside, Đồ Chua literally just means “sour stuff” but usually only refers to these pickled daikon and carrots.
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