Have you ever looked at those long, creamy white radishes on your green grocer’s shelf and wondered how to turn them into something delicious?
We mostly see daikon bulking out a Chinese soup or shredded on a plate of sushi or sashimi. Both are tasty uses of the root vegetable but you can also bake or steam them, turn them into savoury cakes or make pickles. There are as many options as the vegetable is long.
We’ve decided to make the daikon the main event in a dish all of its own. So this week we suggest a simple and inexpensive vegetable side dish. Serve it with some soy-anointed steamed fish, or barbecued duck, a bowl of rice and you’ll be praising the mighty daikon.
Caren
BRAISED DAIKON
Serves 4-6 as a side dish
1 large or 2 small daikon radishes
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and very finely shaved
1 teaspoon sesame oil
150 ml chicken stock
1 tablespoon gluten-free soy sauce
2 green onions, finely sliced
Peel and top and tail the radishes. Slice into 2.5cm rounds. Dry them well with kitchen paper.
Heat the peanut oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the shaved ginger for one minute. Remove onto kitchen paper and set aside.
Add the sesame oil to the oil already in the pan then add the daikon rounds.
On a low heat, fry for about 10 minutes moving the rounds occasionally in the pan without turning them over. Fry until their bottoms are well coloured.
Take the pan off the heat and allow the oil to cool a bit. Turn the rounds over so the coloured side is on top. Add the chicken stock and the soy sauce and return the pan to the heat. Bring the liquid to the boil, then lower the heat and cover the pan. Cook for another ten minutes or until the daikon rounds are tender but al dente.
Transfer to a serving platter, pour over the pan juices and scatter with the ginger slices and green onions.