Fun with Root Vegetables

It’s not that I’ve never tried any of the more exotic offerings of the Food Coop’s produce aisle. I snatch up cherimoyas and gai lan whenever they’re available, and have sampled crazy things like black sapotes and monster fruits many times. But somehow I failed to pick up a daikon once in my four years of coop membership—until now.

Daikon is a radish with Chinese origins and is an important part of many Asian cuisines. Outside of the Coop you’ve probably seen it grated and served as a garnish, mixed in tempura sauce, or pickled. It is also often made into kimchi along with cabbage, or as a substitute for it.

Serious daikon aficionados (they exist, surely?) might visit Tano, Japan, the world capital of daikon pickling. Following each harvest, hundreds of daikon drying racks (each one as long as 150 feet) spring up across the town to prepare the radishes for processing. Daikon are typically dried in the open air for 10 days, as the withered roots tend to produce a sweeter pickle. Sadly, Tano does not seem to host its own daikon festival, but such festivals do occur in Tokyo and Honolulu.

If you purchase daikon from the Coop, you should not accept the check-out worker’s polite request to remove the green leafy top, as I did, even if this makes it easier to get the radishes on the scale. Not only are these leaves apparently edible and delicious, but they are also chock full of vitamin C, calcium and iron.* The root itself contains 34% of your RDA supply of vitamin C, enzymes thought to aid in digestion, and only 18 calories per three ounce serving.*

Because this was my first daikon cooking experience, I chose a simple recipe that would allow its flavor to shine through—a salad with watercress, bell pepper, and a white wine vinaigrette.


This cruciferous voyage of discovery led me to an important realization: I do not like watercress. At all. I can appreciate bitter greens, but the powerful astringency of those tender little leaves proved to be way too much for me. If you’re not a watercress fan either, you could make this salad with arugula or baby spinach instead and it would taste just dandy.



Watercress, Bell Pepper, and Daikon Radish Salad

Ingredients:

2 tsp white wine vinegar
1/8 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 medium daikon radish (about 1/4 lb), peeled and sliced into julienne strips
1 bunch watercress, rinsed, coarse stems removed
1 red bell pepper, sliced into julienne strips

Whisk together the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Drizzle in the oil, whisking, until the dressing has emulsified. Add the remaining ingredients and toss well.

Note: Daikon has a natural bitterness. If you wish to reduce its pungency, you can soak the sliced daikon in cold water for up to 30 minutes before tossing it into the salad.

Serves 4

Adapted from Epicurious.com

Daikon elsewhere on the web:

Cuddly anthropomorphic daikon
Great photo of daikon drying racks in Tano
Daikon pickle recipe