Test Recipe: Braised Daikon

As i promised, i'll post one of my test recipe few weeks ago. I got this recipe from Periplus Mini Cookbooks Series: Japanese Favourites.

Actually, i got this beautiful white carrot-like vegetables accidentally while i was looking for vegetables for salad recipe. In my country, they called it lobak. Here's some explanation about daikon (from the recipe book):

"Daikon is a large white radish widely used in Japanese cooking. It may be eaten raw or cooked and is often pickled or grated. Used mainly in soups and stir-fries, it is sold in supermarket."

So bought some and when i got home...i realized i have no idea what should i do with this daikon. I eat it raw...it's crisps, juicy, and there's slightly bitter aftertaste. So i search trough my recipe books and i found this simple recipe. I have no other clue, so i'll just go with this recipe.

INGRDIENTS:
500 g (1 lb) daikon
1 teaspoon dashi powder dissolved in 1 liter (4 cups) water or 1 liter (4 cups) Dashi Stock (i don't have dashi powder, so i used instant 1/2 cubed instant chicken stock)
2 teaspoons sugar ( i make it 3 because i like it sweet)
2 tablespoon Japanese soy sauce (don't use the thick soy sauce, because the flavour will be too salty)
4 tablespoon sake
3 tablespoons mirin
black sesame seeds (goma shio)

01 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.

02 Place the daikon slices in a saucepan with dashi mixture or 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 2.5 hours or until daikon is tender and lightly browned.

03 Gently stir in the mirin. Set aside for 10 minutes before serving in small plate with little of the cooking liquid. Springkle some black sesame seeds and serve.

Well, it tasted OK. i can't say that this is my fave, because i found that the bitter aftertaste is still there. But i love how beautiful this dish can become. Do you agree?

Another time, i'll try to add the sake and maybe make it 3 hours to cooked. If you have any suggestion on how to cooked this daikon right, i'd be very happy to know it.