Buri Daikon
My boss gave me one big daikon yesterday (with leaves!) and said it was fresh from her mother’s vegetable garden in a rural town. Delighted, I made a decision right away to use it for my favorite Buri daikon :D
BURI DAIKON (Daikon radish simmered with yellowtail collar)
Ingredients (1 cup = 200cc)
4 big pieces buri (yellowtail) collar
1/2 daikon radish apx. 600g (21 oz)
A little salt
2 cups water
1/3 to 1/2 cup sake
1/4 to 1/3 cup mirin (rice wine)
1 to 1.5 Tblsp sugar
3 Tblsp soy sauce
Some slices of ginger root
A little dashi powder ….optional
Finely shredded citrus rind to garnish
- Cut daikon in to apx. 1/2 inch-thick pieces and peel. If time allows, do this “preparation” to make daikon tastier and reduce the fishy smell of yellowtail.
 (* Preparation: Boil daikon pieces with a pinch of raw rice until they start looking a little transparent. Wash rice off with water and drain.
Salt yellowtail collar and leave for 5 to 10 min. Put in boiling water just until the surface color changes and take out. Immediately rinse with cold water to remove slime, blood etc. Drain.)
- Put daikon, yellowtail collar, water, sake and ginger root slices in a pot on mid-to high heat and bring to boil. (If available, cover with a lid smaller than the pot. We call it otoshi-buta*. If not, aluminum foil will do.)
- Add sugar, soy sauce and mirin. Simmer for 25 to 30 min with otoshi-buta or aluminum foil on top.
* If time allows, take off from heat and cool completely, then re-heat just before serving.
- Garnish with shredded yuzu rind or shiraga-negi (fine strips of white part of long green onion, rinsed in water and drained.)
The process marked with “*” does make a difference, so I strongly recommend not to skip them if time allows. Otoshi-buta (drop-lid) has this benefit. They say that boiling daikon with rice takes bitterness away and make daikon softer so that it can absorb seasoning well. It’s also said that simmered foods absorb seasoning the most while they cool down. So I’d rather go for lighter soup (using less seasoning) + cooling process than simmering in strong soup and eating right away.
Close-up of Juicy daikon. Hmmmmmmm....
The buri-daikon I made today was a GREAT success mainly because both buri and daikon were very fresh.
The daikon leaves were minced, seasoned and mixed with rice.
Ahh…… I’m so full and satisfied. Hmmmmmm……………….
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11 comments:
Obachan, first I should thank you. Now I have a better template. I am still having problems but oh well, slowly, i'll find out how to fix them.
About this post, it looks like we almost have the same way of cooking fish except for the seasonings..
Lucky u, obachan, got such a fresh nice daikon from ur boss. The veggie in Japan now so expensive, and less good looking. Even the daikon looks so small and price double up compare to last year cold season. Hey, the daikon happa gohan looks good. Wat did u put for the seasoning?
oha~
I love daikon but am lazy to cook them since it usually takes a long while to get it cooked through. Your buri daikon looks really yummy. Do you think it will works well if I replace the fish with meat?
Hi ya’ll, Thanks for your comments : )
> OsloFoodie --- Thanks. It WAS good. The daikon was soooo soft and juicy….
> Ting-aling --- It’s exciting to find something in common, isn’t it. BTW, I emailed you about the template. Hope that helps.
> Jonny --- Honto!! Saikooooo.
> fish fish --- I know. Isn’t it terrible this year?! One cabbage costed 600 to 700 yen the other day. Ridiculous!!
I added sake, soy sauce, white sesame seeds, salt and sesame oil to the minced daikon leaves and fryed in a frying pan. I also added dried baby fish when I mixed the happa and rice.
> pinkcocoa --- Sure, pork would be wonderful. In that case you can skip the preparation for the fish. If pork made it too greasy, add more ginger and/or an umeboshi (salty plum pickle, if available) for simmering. I’ve never tried beef or chicken with this.
thanks obachan!
Oh, just reading about what you and fish fish talked about. Sydney's fruits and veggies have been quite expensive this year too because of the drought. :-( Global warming!?
Hi Obachan,
Love your website!
In your instruction, you mentioned: "Boil daikon pieces with a pinch of raw rice until they start looking a little transparent. Wash rice off with water and drain. "
May I ask the reason for this step? Thanks!
Hi Kay,
Thanks for asking. I myself wondered about this, and you gave me a perfect chance to do a net search to find out the reason “why.” I really love discovering the “whys” in Japanese cooking -- that’s part of the reason why I keep this blog!
OK. In a nutshell, boiling daikon with a pinch of rice (or in rice-rinsing water) is supposed to remove the slight bitterness and unpleasant smell of raw daikon, and keep the daikon juicy and tasty.
Now you might want to know why this step has such an effect, right? Yes, there seems to be a scientific explanation for that. I found it on the net. But I need some time to summarize it in English. Plus, it is such an interesting topic so I want to write a new entry about it and post it in a few days. So, can you come back in a couple of days and check back on the latest post on this blog? Thanks! ;)
Thanks for your quick reply!!
I always thought the bitter taste of daikon was because I was never very good at picking out good ones. Thanks for the tip. Maybe you can include how to select good daikon in your new blog post :-) THANKS!
I'm not really having success finding buri in the local Japanese markets. Do you have any recommendations in using a different kind of fish?
LW
Kay
Hope you liked my latest post on daikon. :)
LW
I've read that saba (mackerel) would do, but it doesn't sound too tempting to me; it may make the dish overly fishy.
If it doesn't have to be fish, how about pork (ribs) or sausage? Lots of younger Japanese people seem to like these meat versions better than traditional buri daikon.
hello Obachan. how can i remove the bitter taste of daikon?
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