The market · Roots and tubers · East Asia, South Asia
Daikon
A long white radish, mild and juicy raw, sweet and soft after long simmering.
peppery · fresh · sweet
What to do with it
VietnameseBánh mìA light, crackling-crusted baguette filled with pâté, cold cuts or grilled meat, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, coriander and chilli.No one here has made it yetFilipinoSinigangA sour soup of pork, prawns or fish with vegetables, soured most often with tamarind.No one here has made it yetTeochewTeochew beef hotpotVery fresh beef, cut to order by the part, dipped for seconds in a clear broth and eaten with shacha sauce.No one here has made it yetTeochewFried carrot cakeSteamed white radish and rice-flour cake, cut into cubes and fried with egg, garlic and preserved radish — 'white', or 'black' with sweet soy.No one here has made it yetKinds
- Japanese daikon
- Long and slender — for oden, simmered dishes, and grated as oroshi.
- Korean mu
- Shorter and stouter with a green shoulder, denser and sweeter — for kkakdugi and soups.
- Mooli
- The South Asian name for the long white radish, for mooli paratha.
If you can't find it
Asian grocers; sometimes as mooli.
- The same weight; or young turnipYou lose some juiciness; radishes are hotter.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- East Asian and South Asian grocers. Heavy, firm and glossy, with no soft spots.
- Worth knowing
- The top end is sweetest and the tip hottest: simmer the top and middle, grate the tip.
