Parboiling daikon radish

If you would like to make a beautiful simmered daikon dish, I recommend you boil the daikon in rice-water (milky water resulting from washing rice) beforehand.
You can see how to wash Japanese rice on this post.
You can make simmered daikon without this process but parboiling daikon radish has some benefits to making a delicious dish.
THREE BENEFITS OF PARBOILING DAIKON RADISH
・ Rice water removes the bitterness and smell of the daikon radish.
・ Parboiling daikon radish helps to make clear and scum free soup.
・ Parboiled daikon easily absorbs the soup when it’s simmered.
THE PROPER PART OF DAIKON RADISH FOR SIMMERING
I recommend using the middle of your daikon radish.

You can see the reason below.
CHAMFERING
I usually chamfer the edges of the cut vegetables such as daikon, carrot, and pumpkin when I simmer them.

The edges boil faster than the middle. While you try to let the soup soak into the inside, the edges may break into pieces from overcooking. So chamfering the edge keeps the shape of the ingredient looking good and helps it cook evenly.
KAKUSHI BOUCHO
Before boiling, make shallow X shape cuts on one side of the daikon radish. It helps the radish absorb the soup.

This technique is called 隠し包丁 (kakushi boucho) in English it kind of means “hidden cuts”. The surface with the X cut has to be placed upside down. Although you can’t see the cuts, it makes it easy for you to cut the daikon into bite-size pieces with chopsticks when you eat it. That’s why it’s called “hidden cuts”.
I love this kind of consideration!
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