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.

HOW TO COOK JAPANESE RICE WITH YOUR POT

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.

DAIKON RADISH

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!

Parboiling daikon radish

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Recipe by MikaCuisine: JapaneseDifficulty: Medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Ingredients

• 16cm daikon radish (about 6.2in)

Directions

• Cut the daikon radish into about 3 – 4 cm slices. (1.5in)
  
• When you remove the skin of a daikon radish, make sure it’s a little thick. The area right under the skin has a lot of fiber. It prevents the daikon from getting soft. Also, the fibrous texture remains even as it gets cooked.
  You can use the thick peeled skins for other dishes.
• Chamfer the edges of the daikon.
  
• Make shallow X cuts on one side of the daikon.
  
• Place the daikon slices in the pan and add rice-water. Cook them over high heat. Once the water is boiling, turn the heat to medium.
  
• After about 20 minutes, test for doneness with a bamboo skewer. When there’s no resistance inside, it’s done. If the dikon is still too hard, add some water and cook until the desired softness.
  
• Rinse the surface of the daikon in cold water.
• Enjoy your authentic and delicious daikon dish.
  

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