This recipe for Pickled Daikon radish that I am sharing with you is the most delicious Daikon tsukemono that I have ever tasted. I am not exaggerating. I have grown up with eating tsukemono in every meal. So in my humble opinion, this is the best ever pickled daikon.
What is Daikon?
Daikon (大根) literally means Big roots. It is a large white radish which primarily grows in the east and south-east Asia. Japanese use Daikon in cooking in a variety of ways. For instance, in Oden (fish cake stew), Miso Soup, Kouhaku Namasu (radish and carrot vinaigrette salad), Rafute (Okinawa braised pork belly) and garnishing grated daikon for Tempura and Tataki.
Where can you get Daikon?
The English language has adopted “Daikon Radish”. The organic market or local farmers markets that I often go to on the weekends sell them. They are simply labelled as Daikon. Also, Japanese grocery and Asian grocery stores certainly have them in winter.
How to prepare the radish for Pickled Daikon?
My aunt Keiko is really good at home cooking. Every time I go back to Japan, I visit my uncle and aunt in Ise city where the famous Ise shrine is. They always welcome us with serving delicious Japanese dishes such as Sukiyaki with melt in the mouth (and expensive) Matsusaka Beef!
Aunt Keiko told me that she usually uses 5-10 kg of Daikon to pickle. She says she prepares Tsukemono in bulk because it makes it more delicious. However, all of the vegetables are ginormous compared to its size, but Daikon is actually smaller. I only managed to get about 1kg. So I had to adjust her recipe to suit this small amount.
Slice the Daikon to about 3-5mm (0.1-0.2 inch) thick strips. I use a ceramic slicer which allows me to set the desired thickness. I set it at 3mm (0.1inch). Aunt Keiko told me to slice to 5mm (0.2 inches) but my slicer’s maximum thickness is 3mm (0.1 inch). This, however, doesn’t seem to be an issue.
Tips to make Pickled Daikon successfully
1.Temperature
I asked her for the recipe and she said the temperature is the most important factor to make this pickled daikon radish so delicious. She said the temperature should be around 9°C (48°F). It is winter in Brisbane now and the temperature has been around 8-14 so I decided to make this pickled Daikon radish.
2. Adding Umami flavour to the Pickled Daikon
Once the sliced daikon has been covered with salt for 7-8 hours, and the vinaigrette is ready, then it is time to layer nicely with umami flavour. The two to use are “Ito konbu” and “Katsuobushi”. Ito Konbu is thinly cut kelp threads and Katsuobushi is bonito flake. Both of them are available from Japanese grocery stores or Asian grocery stores.
After you pickled the daikon, leave it for a week. Since making my last batch, I have been eating it as a side dish and even as a snack sometimes. I really love pickled daikon radish! If you liked this Tsukemono recipe from my aunt, please rate the recipe and leave comments below.
Mottainai (NO waste)
Mottainai is a Japanese concept of regret concerning waste. When you buy Daikon with leaves attached, do not discard the leaves. Japanese people eat the leaves as well because you can make another dish out of it so there is no waste! Chop up the leaves about 1cm (0.4 inch) and fry them with 1/2 tsp of sesame seed oil. After that, add 1 tsp of soy sauce, mirin and sugar to make stir fry daikon leaves and add bonito flakes and white sesame seeds. You’ll be surprised at how tasty it is.
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PIckled Daikon (My Aunt Keiko’s Recipe) 大根の漬物
Video
Ingredients
- 1 kg Daikon Radish
- 50 g salt
- 54 ml rice vinegar
- 9 ml mirin
- 100 g sugar
- 15 g bonito flake
- 15 g threaded kelp
Instructions
- Wash the daikon radish and slice it about 15cm long and 5mm thickness.
- Sprinkle salt over the sliced daikon and toss them to evenly coat daikon with salt.
- Leave it for 6-7 hours.
- Combine the rice vinegar, mirin, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring it to boil over medium heat, when all the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat off and let it cool down.
- After 6-7 hours, drain and squeeze out the excess water off the sliced daikon radish. ( do not wash them )
- Lay the daikon radish into a large container and sprinkle a little bit of bonito flake, kelp, and vinegar mixture. Repeat the process until all the ingredients are used.
- Leave it in room temperature for a week.
hi! lovely recipe thank you. i am confused about whether the recipe calls for leaving it at “room temperature” for a week to allow fermentation? or do you mean it will keep in the fridge for a week after its made? thank you!
Hi Richard, the former.
oishi so👍
Thank you Jun, yes it is delicious 😀
I made this and my husband loved it. He asked me to make a bigger batch the next time. Can you also recommend other kinds of pickles?
Thank you Apple to making this pickles. I am glad to hear your family loved it. This recipe is great for Daikon so I have not made other but you can try something like different types of radish.
Question: when you say leave at room temperature for a week, do you mean leave at 48 degrees Fahrenheit for this entire time? If yes, then it would need to be in our refrigerator for that time as it is generally 70 degrees in our house year round.
Hi Kerry, yes.
Try with ginger is amazing.
Hello. Looks lovely. I have to find the kelp and bonito – I am in Australia. Once I find kelp do I have to prepare it in any other way or just throw it in? Also, when you leave it for a week, does it need to be lying flat or can it be in a mason jar? Thanks very much
Hi Farah, you don’t have to do anything, just throw it in. Yes you can keep in a mason jar.
Not sure if it’s dry kelp or reconstituted with a little warm water? Thanks.
Hi Steve, yes it is dry kelp.
Hi Shihoko,
I’d like to make these pickles, but i have few questions: At home I have mizkan honteri mirin seasoning, do you think is possible to use it instead of the rice vinegar?
and also 9ml of mirin, is it the hon mirin or again I can use the mizkan honteri mirin ?
Another question is, if i don’t have bonito flake, could I use some fish sauce?
thank you!
simona
Hi simona, you can use the mirin you have but can not replace vinegar for it.
Hi Ms Shihoko! may i know if there is an alternative for sugar? i have friends who have diabetes / high blood sugar, they are not allowed to eat food with lots of sugar content. thank you for your help
Hi Tienan Tan, can your friend allowed to use xylitol?
Hello Shihoko, I just made this recipe. Could I double check the salt amount please? 50g is rather salty and with the addeed bonito flakes, the entire pickle is even more salty. Secondly, the amount of vinegar 54ml – (approximately 3.5 tablespoons) seems to be too little for 1kg daikon, Can you please explain?
Lastly, this small font size is such a strain on my eyes – it’s so small on the computer. It’s even worse on my mobile device. Can you please fix this issue? Thank you.
Sincerely
Evonne
Hi Evonne, Thank you for asking. It is correct, because you don’t leave the salt. You need to squeeze out once the salt withdraw moisture out of Daikon. and Vinegar amount is correct too. Because after moisture withdrawn from the daikon,they shrink. You don’t need a lot of amount to pickle. The font size are set than bigger than average website.
こんにちはシホコさん！
I make these with crisp Asian apples added, cut into matchsticks, because I don’t like too much sweetness. I also add ginger, and kelp flakes. I don’t use fish; vegetarians から. I do a lacto ferment, instead of the quick vinegar pickle, but the result is similar. Thanks for sharing this recipe – it’s great to do quick pickles when you can’t wait several weeks for the fermentation!
ありがとうございます！
ジャ二ス
Hi Jan-san. Thank you for the 5 star rating and lovely comment. Great adjustment to the recipe 😀
Evonne you can adjust the size of the font on your computer by holding down the “command” key and the ” + ” or ” – ” key at the same time. ( On a mac – not sure what it is for a PC but you can look up “enlarge text on PC”) .
That said, this does not work in this comment box – the font remains tiny! – usually it does work on other sites! But the post text does enlarge
You could ask someone to help you reset the font size in your phone. It is in the setting function.
Can you talk about how this recipe would result with less sugar? I love tsukemono and have been looking for a good recipe. This sounds like what I’ve been looking for but I’m wanting a less sweet pickle.
Thoughts? Ideas?
Hi Elizabeth, let me to try out. I like the sweetness of this pickles so I will try alternative sweeteners(Erythritol) or do you just want to reduce the amount of sugar, then the taste of this daikon pickle will be different.
Hi folks… be careful about using erythritol (or xylitol) because they have an antimicrobial effect and may slow or stop fermentation. I use xylitol in my kimchi recipe because I like it quite fresh and it holds well for a long time in the refrigerator, so it may actually work for you. I’d be interested in hearing how your experimentation with erythritol works out.
If you can obtain it, tagatose might be a better alternative. I have a little on hand and might try it myself 🙂
Hi Speedwell, Thank you so much for your feedback. I have not experimented it yet, but I will keep the information in my mind. Thank you!
maybe agave nectar? but I think Elizabeth should just use less sugar – and it will be less sweet – just as she likes it
100g = 8 tablespoons of sugar?!
Yes, It is quite sweet.
I wonder how it will be without Bonito flakes?
It might be something missing, taste blant?
I first tasted Daikon when I was stationed on the island of Hokkaido back in the 1960’s. A Japanese friend of mine used to make them for me. I have to try this recipe.
Daikon in Hokkaido must had been delicious 😀
Shihoko, after sitting on the counter for a week, I suppose you put them in the fridge. For how long can you keep it in the fridge?
Hi Doru, It will last about a week in fridge 😀 but in my house it does not last long as everyone loves it.
Thank you for posting this recipe. It sounds delicious. I’ll fashion some konbu threads from my larger pieces as I can;t find the strands anywhere. Usually I just pickle daikon with carrot in rice vinegar with a bit of salt and sugar, but this sounds much more interesting and flavorful.
Oh yes Dave, Bonito flake and Konbu gives a lot of Umami flavour 😀
Hi – I’m looking forward to trying your recipe, however, you have “50 g salt” listed on the ingredients list, but nowhere in the recipe directions. Is the salt used to draw out the water from the Daikon? Or should I just eliminate the salt altogether?
Hi Amy Thank you so much for letting me know. You are right. I completely miss out to include the process.
amazing recipe great work!
thank you so much 🙂
Oh major YUM! I love pickled daikon, and I cannot WAIT to try your Aunt’s version – it has my mouth watering just thinking about it! I love trying tried and true family family recipes like this, as I love the authenticity they always have.
Thank you for providing the tip on how to “un-salt” the salted kombu – I am assuming I won’t be able to find threaded kombu either, so I’ll have to go with that instead. And I also love how your recipe is for a slightly smaller amount of pickles- it’s only 2 of us in my house, so I don’t need large amounts. I think this will be the perfect bento box side dish – can’t wait to add it to my next one!
Konnichiwa Shannon san. My household is small too and my children are not big fan of pickled food. Hope their taste pallet will change then I can make a bigger batch 😀 This recipe is the best I have tasted in my life and I am from Japan, so tasted tons of pickled Daikon 😀
Hi I live in Singapore with room temperature up to 30 degrees! Should I place it in the fridge after making this?
Hi Dawn Yes, I would. Thank you for making this 😀
What an interesting recipe! It must be super delicious. Thank you for posting it!
Thank you Sean. Yes it is the most delicious pickled daikon radish ever I have tasted :D.
Thank you Shihoko-San for sharing you Aunt’s recipe.
It took quite awhile to convert your measurements to American measurements.
And… although it’s not 100% accurate… I think it’s “close enough” .
Another “funny” thing:
I’m well over 70 years old and have always referred to “Daikon Radish” simply as “Daikon”.
If I said “Daikon Radish” to my family…, they would just look at me and wonder what I’m referring to… LOL !!!
Ohhh Sorry Doug san, I keep forgetting to write recipe in both American measurements as well and thank you so much for trying out the recipe 😀
Would you mind making a copy of the recipe for daikon in American measures. I’m making some tonight but I’m not sure how accurate my measurements are.
Hi Coreen, I fixed the recipe, you should see US metric under the ingredients list. If you click that, it will convert to Us Metric 😀 Thank you for letting me know.
Hi, so I was wondering if this could be canned its harder to get daikon where I live and thought since its pickled if I could make a big batch when I can get a hold of the daikon and have for the year
Hi Nicole, Sorry I am not sure. My Aunt makes like 5kg at once but we usually finish all of them. Please let me know if you succeed.