i’ve been eating a lot of daikon radishes lately.  i think it stared with a trip to street, a pretty solid restaurant in portsmouth, nh.  they had a really awesome asian slaw-kinda salad, which featured daikon, and that i’ve replicated [with variations] a few times of times since.  i’ll probably post a recipe for that next time i make it [it's still in beta testing].  but i really took a shining to daikon, so i’ve also been looking for other things to do with them aside from this one salad.  they’re like a delicious combination of jicama, red radish, and carrot.  plus they’re pretty chock full of good things [like vitamin c, b vitamins, potassium and other minerals].

the topic of daikon came up again while i was at my parents’ house recently, as my mom and brother and i were cooking dinner together one night, and i requested my mom pick up one to stick in the [regular green] salad we were making.  it was good in the salad, but i mentioned that it was also possible to pickle them.  i had pickled daikons as a table snack once at fine line bistro [ithaca], but had never done it myself.

until now.

i submit to you, my first attempt at pickling daikon radishes.  it’s a twist on the vietnamese recipe for do chua.  and it is delicious [imho].

ingredients:

1. 1 daikon radish [cut into rounds]
2. 2 carrots [cut into rounds]
3. 4 cloves garlic [halved]
4. 1 smallish onion [chopped]
5. some fresh ginger [cut into ~1/8" cubes]
6. some fresh rosemary
7. 1 T salt
8. 1 T + 1/2 c sugar
9. 1 1/4 c white vinegar
10. 1/2 c rice wine vinegar
11. 1 1/2 c water

directions:

1. cut the veggies up, put in a bowl with rosemary, 1 T salt, and 1 T sugar, toss with hands to cover evenly, transfer to a strainer or basket let sit for ~10  min.  you want to get a fair bit of the liquid out of the veggies, so they soak up the brine, so they should be soft/flexible enough to bend slightly.
2. warm the 1/2 c sugar, vinegars, and wine in a sauce pan on the stove.  stir until the sugar is dissolved
3. rinse the veggies with cold water, press to expel liquid, let sit in strainer for another minute or so, then pack into jars
4. cover with brine, close lids, stick in fridge
5. you can start eating after 1 hr, but it gets better with time.  dust with some cracked pepper or sea salt

this made about 3 pints [or a quart and a pint].  i didn’t give exact volumes on some ingredients because they’re flexible depending on what you want, flavor wise.  the ginger is a strong one, so only put in a lil bit!

this is a daikon radish:

chopped and salted/sugared!

strain it!

pack it!

fill it with brine!