Kitchen Experiments: Braised Daikon

Ingredients:

500g daikon
4 cups dashi stock
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons sake
3 tablespoons mirin

Directions:

Remove skin and thick outer layer and slice the daikon into eight thick pieces. Cut a thin strip on an angle from the top and bottom edge of each piece. Cut a shallow cross into the top on one side.

Place the daikon slices in a saucepan with dashi stock, sugar, soy sauce and sake. Bring to the boil, removing any impurities from the surface with a spoon. Boil for 10 minutes then reduce heat and simmer covered for 2 ½ hours or until daikon is tender and lightly browned.

Gently stir in the mirin. Set aside for 10 minutes before serving in small bowls with a little of the cooking liquid.

My Notes: I served my daikon on cold soba because I had some sitting in the fridge leftover from a dinner.

What’s good about daikon is that it is a good vehicle to take on flavour and once it is stewed long enough it is really soft and nice to eat and it feels healthy and light.

The recipe states the cooking time for 2 ½ hours, but mine only took about an hour for my daikon to get soft and tender.