Today, I want to introduce you to one of my favorite winter vegetables––the brilliant daikon radish, and an extremely easy and delicious recipe that Bill loves every time I make it, boiled daikon radish. (I’ve convinced the girls as well of how delicious it is!)
My Simplest Go-to Winter Side Dish
This boiled daikon requires no oil, no wok, and no extreme high heat.
Since I always have a daikon radish in the fridge, it’s my go-to side dish in the wintertime. I just cut it up, boil it with a few ingredients I always have in my pantry, and a healthy meal awaits!
The Health Benefits of Daikon Radish
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the food we eat has an enormous effect on our health (well, all of medicine can get behind that one, I guess!). The term 食疗 (shi liao) loosely translates to diet, but is more about using the foods you eat to improve your health.
Everyone is becoming more health conscious these days, especially when it comes to the food we eat. I think that might be why our Yam Leaf Stir-Fry made our Top 25 list of most popular recipes from 2018. In case you missed it, yam leaves are one of our new favorite superfoods!
As for daikon, it’s low in calories and high in fiber. Some reported dietary benefits include boosting your immune system, reducing inflammation, and flushing harmful toxins from your body. Daikon may also help bone strength, weight management, respiratory health, and improved digestion.
Boy, I knew daikon was good for me, but I did not know about all these health benefits until I did some research. A word of advice though, people with “cool” constitutions in Chinese medicine, should not eat too much of it. There’s a lot to say about whether your constitution is “too hot” or “too cold,” but I’ll have to save that for a rainy day!
Unless you’re a researcher, the health benefits of daikon are probably a bit of a mystery to most of us, and, at the end of the day, daikon simply tastes great and remains a staple vegetable in many Asian cultures.
We’ve published a handful of delicious recipes that feature my favorite wintry radish and really highlight the taste of Chinese home cooking: Easy Braised Turnip Rice Bowls, Chinese Braised Beef and Turnips, Braised Daikon with Salted Pork and Glass Noodles, and Oxtail Soup.
But this boiled daikon recipe is by far the easiest and very tasty, I might add. It offers the purest, most delicate taste of daikon radish without being bland, and goes great with pretty much any main dish as a healthy side. I hope you give this recipe a try and add daikon radish to your meal rotation. That would mean a job well done for me! ;)
Boiled Daikon Recipe Instructions
Cut the daikon into half-inch thick, bite-sized pieces.
In a pot, add 1 slice ginger, 1 cup water or stock (235ml), 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (16 g), ½ teaspoon salt (2 g), ¼ teaspoon sugar (1 g), ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper (a large pinch), and stir to combine. Add the daikon.
Cover and bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 20 minutes until the daikon is fork tender, stirring occasionally.
Right before serving, add in the chopped scallion, and a few drops of sesame oil (optional).
Mix well and serve!
Boiled Daikon Radish: A Light, Healthy Side Dish
Ingredients
- 1 pound daikon radish (about 450 g)
- 1 slice ginger
- 1 cup water or stock (235 ml)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (16 g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (about 2 g, or to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon sugar (about 1 g)
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 scallion (chopped)
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Cut the daikon into half-inch thick, bite-sized pieces. In a pot, add 1 slice ginger, 1 cup water or stock (235ml), 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (16 g), ½ teaspoon salt (2 g), ¼ teaspoon sugar (1 g), ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper (a large pinch), and stir to combine. Add the daikon.
- Cover and bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 20 minutes until the daikon is fork tender, stirring occasionally.
- Right before serving, add in the chopped scallion, and a few drops of sesame oil (optional). Mix well and serve!
This was a great dish. So simple and delicious. I’m glad it’s healthy too. One question: do you keep your daikon in the pantry or the refrigerator?
Hi Pam, you should keep it in the refrigerator.
I made this using mushroom stock, Knorr stock cube, but it looked low on liquid while cooking so used 500ml of stock. I used 2 slices of ginger initially but during cooking I could tell it was too strong so removed one and no sugar was used as I didn’t have any plus spring onion instead of scallion as not available here.
On serving it was delicious but salty so I presume it was due to the stock cube so won’t add salt next time. Going to make it again tomorrow but in more of a stew style by adding 1 potato, 1 onion and possibly 1 clove of garlic and might use fresh coriander instead of scallion. Thanks for the recipe and I have lots of ideas I want to try based around the basic recipe including non veg versions. Here in Thailand a daikon is also known as a Chinese carrot and is available all year round.
Everything sounds lovely, Paul. There are many ways to make this dish taste good.
How do you choose daikon that is not bitter tasting?
Hi Angela, fresh daikon are sweet. They turn bitter as they get older, so look for fresh daikon with bright white skin and fresh green tops.
Sounds delicious but wondering which type of daikon to use.
Daikon is the Japanese or Chinese type ? There is also Korean type. :-)
Which type is preferred ?
This turned out so well and was very simple. I like the daikon really really tender so I cooked it longer than 20 minutes while I also made your 地三鲜. I make recipes from your site all of the time. Thank you for this amazing resource!
So glad you are enjoying our recipes, Jen :-)
Simply and delicious. I also added some chopped cilantro.
That’s wonderful, Suz.
Typo error…fork tender, not folk tender.
Thank you for pointing it out, Kim.
Awesome way to eat daikon. I’ll definitely make this again. Thank you.
You’re welcome Chau. I love this simple dish too and it’s a snap to make :)
I do not have claim sauce in the house. Do you know if I could use fish sauce? I have bought Vietnamese and one from Philippines. I understand the Vietnamese is sweet then one from the Philippines.
Hi Liza, you can definitely use a little bit of fish sauce in this dish for umami.
Hi i will be making it tomorrow looks so healthy as my husband suffers with high blood pressure
Great, hope he likes it.