Fried Daikon on Rice

 

I used to hate daikon. It's a huge Japanese radish that has a mildly yucky taste. I've never been a fan of radishes in general. They taste musty raw, and even worse when cooked. So...yeah, I avoid the radish like crazy.

...And yet... here it is, the king of radish recipes! I've learned to love daikon with the use of this little recipe! Of course, I had no idea how to fry a daikon properly, so I looked it up first & modified a neat little recipe I found here. (Basically, I tried making this recipe, and it didn't work for me so I added this simmer sauce to soften it up & enhance the flavor!)

 

This is a sliced half of a daikon. 

These things are huge. Like, as long as your forearm huge.

Daikon are versatile things.They're nutritious, filling, super low cal... and bland. Don't let anyone tell you they taste good plain. It's a lie. But this...actually makes them taste good.

  

 Fried Daikon on Rice

1/2 Daikon, peeled & sliced into 1cm rounds
2 tbsp sesame oil (or a little less)
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tbsp miso
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp shoyu
sesame seeds* (optional, for decoration)
1 green onion, sliced fine* (optional, for decoration)

DIRECTIONS
Heat sesame oil in a frying pan with a lid on MED-HI heat, until it's about to start smoking. Add daikon slices CAREFULLY (as the oil can splash, slowly slide the pieces into the pan and DO NOT drop them in). Heat for 3 minutes on one side. They should look cooked but not burnt (a few black marks will be fine). Flip & cook on the opposite side for another 3 minutes.

After frying the daikon, add the vegetable broth and quickly put the lid on the pan. (It will start steaming immediately, and you don't want to lose any vapors). Let the vegetable broth "steam" the daikon until it evaporates - this should take about 3 minutes.

Whisk together the miso, sake, mirin & shoyu. After the vegetable broth has evaporated, add this new broth to the pot & steam again for another 2 minutes.

After a total of about 5 minutes of steaming, maybe more but no less than that, take off of heat.

Place daikon slices on a plate with rice. The pan should have a decent amount of "broth" remaining. Add it to the top of the daikon slices & rice as a sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds & green onion slices for display.

Notes: Make sure that the timing is right. Daikon are like carrots... they take a while to soften, but you don't really want them to get too soft either. And the amount of oil looks like a lot, but yeah...it's the right amount for this because it adds the perfect amount of sesame flavor.

Butternut Squash Soup

This soup is SO easy and versatile. This is easily my favorite soup to make...and eat.

These are the main ingredients, chopped up!

Most traditional butternut squash soup is sweet. This is, too, but it's definitely more savoury. I don't add the traditional spices to it. Instead, I keep it really basic, and it's delicious this way, too.

Please feel free to see my notes section at the end if you want to add some traditional spices.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients
1 Buttnernut squash (or 1/2 LARGE butternut squash...these things can get pretty huge) cubed
1 small onion, diced**
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
2 cups veggie broth
1 1/2 tsp earth balance


Instructions

Sautee diced garlic & onion in soup pot with earth balance until they become fragrant. Add diced squash. Mix & heat through.

Add veggie broth. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes with lid on the pot.

After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and place all soup contents in a high-speed blender. Slowly increase speed, and blend at highest speed for a minute or two. Make sure it's really smooth.

My little Cuisinart blender

That's it!

**Either red or yellow onions are good, of course. Red onion gives it a bolder flavor, while yellow is mellower and allows the squash flavor to be stronger.

Notes: It's not the traditional "sweet" butternut squash soup, but a butternut squash in its prime will taste naturally very sweet. If you want to add the sweetness commonly associated with this soup, add maybe 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and/or brown sugar, about 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon & nutmeg, with a pinch of allspice and/or clove to taste.