Daikon-- what to do with it all?

[dimsumgirl]

I went to the farmers market yesterday and the farmer gave me a great deal on daikon. I have two big radishes totalling about 5 pounds. It was only $1 and he threw in 5 zucchinis. What a bargain.

Now what do I do with all this daikon? All ideas welcome! Thanks.

[ghettoMD]

This is a delicious recipe courtesy of Maangchi: http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kkakdugi

Make it using your daikon, and let it ferment for 48 hours for optimum pungency :-)

[ElsieB]

It's good roasted! And I just used it cut into cubes, sauteed and mixed with posole and hatch green chiles - delicious and lightened up the posole.

[wattacetti]

That's not a lot of daikon.

Lots of ideas already but they're also a fundamental component of oden. Keep the trimmings and pickle them.

if you're a real keener you can also use them to practice your knife skills and see how well you do at katsuramuki (http://www.savoryjapan.com/learn/tech...).

[dimsumgirl]

Those are beautiful strips of daikon! Great thought.

[jadec]

Given your name why not make lo bok ko/luóbo gāo?

[luckyfatima]

I never noticed a daikon smell from cut daikon either. We have it in the fridge even for up to 10 days or more if there is a child's arm sized one that I am using to cut off each day to use for a salad of slice vegetables. During the times of year when the radishes are sweet, we pretty much always have a cut radish in the fridge.

It's good for salads, I definitely like the Chinese or Korean flavors of dressing it and with salty/sweet and some sesame or even chile on it. I love radish ban chan (can google that to see recipes and choose one that looks appealing).

Do you have the greens or just the radish? If you have the greens, you can make a stew of the radish cooked in it's own greens.

You could make Korean beef-radish soup with it. This soup is so nourishing and delicious.

[dimsumgirl]

Not much in the way of greens. Between the two radishes, I might have about 2 Tablespoons total of greens if I was to chop them up.

Radish ban chan sounds wonderful if I can figure out how to make it. Sure love that stuff when I eat Korean.

[JungMann]

You can pickle daikon or preserve it as kimchi. I like it braised in a Japanese stock as a side dish. You can also shred them and make crisp daikon pancakes with little bits of ham or bacon. If you want to braise them, toss in some beef and five spice powder for a homestyle stew.

[dimsumgirl]

Crisp daikon pancakes! Sounds delicious. Any idea how to do that?

[JungMann]

Here is the traditional way: http://www.asiandumplingtips.com/2009...

For latke style, try salting the shredded daikon for 30 minutes then rinsing and wringing dry in a tea towel. Bind with eggs, scallions, rice flour or corn starch, maybe a little sugar or sweet bacon to balance out the heat of the radish, and pan fry until golden on both sides.

[jonoropeza]

Thanks for the idea! Made these today, 2/3 daikon 1/3 carrot, diced bacon, eggs and a little flour to bind it. Sriracha mayo on the side. Football watching snacks... they were devoured. Never seen this particular group of friends go after veggies like that. :)

[Gio]

Some easy dishes using daikon:

daikon and carrot pickle
(S&P and white vinegar)

daikon in a spicy dressing
(Chinese black rice vinegar; chile paste; daikon ; chile oil; scallions; cilantro)

stir-fried w bok choy & tofu
(bok choy; firm tofu; onions; ginger; jalapeño; daikon; soy sauce)

I've used them grated, sliced in coins, sliced in matchsticks. The nice thing about daikon is that although they do have a radish-ey flavor they pick up others flavors in a mixture very well. They're great in salads as others mentioned, and in braises, soups, chowders... in other words any place you'd use a carrot, or regular radish, or any root vegetable for that matter. I've even stir-fried the top green leaves. I honestly think it's one of my favorite vegetables.

They also store very well... up to 4 months in the right circumstances.

[greygarious]

A daikon/carrot slaw - simple vinegar, water, and sugar to pickle it - is at the heart of the banh mi sandwich. I make it as an addition to various typical American sandwiches on crusty bread/rolls.
It keeps weeks in the fridge, but be forewarned that once cut, daikon develops a funky odor within a day or two. It's not dangerous, but you do want to keep it well-sealed.

[ipsedixit]

It keeps weeks in the fridge, but be forewarned that once cut, daikon develops a funky odor within a day or two. It's not dangerous, but you do want to keep it well-sealed.
_________________

Really? Never had any types of odor -- funky or not -- from cut or sliced daikon.

[greygarious]

Just google "daikon odor" and settle in for a week's worth of reading, for example: http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2011/...

[JungMann]

A raw, cut daikon doesn't seem to do much but cooking or pickling those slices releases a pretty woeful smell. I recently served up hors d'oeuvres featuring homemade takuan in a large event space and you could smell the pickles from 10 feet away.

[ipsedixit]

Julienne and marinate with some rice wine vinegar, copious amounts of minced garlic, white pepper and sugar and salt to taste.

Or use them soups and braises.

[hotoynoodle]

5 pounds is a lot, lol, but it keeps well.

shred it and mix with similarly cut carrots and/or cukes for salad. toss with a mustard vinaigrette.