MIGHTY Daikon Radish Salad with Horseradish (AIP)

I went to the markets and bought a king-sized radish…

Oh yes, I did!

You can see the photographic evidence (Saturday morning market hair and all!).

My radish was h u g e . Well over two kilos of radish, in fact.

And, it wasn’t even the biggest one there!

At the time of purchase, I really had no idea what I was going to do with my gargantuan radish. I just knew that, at $2.50 a pop, it would be a mistake not to do something!

Unlike it’s comparatively teeny-tiny red-skinned cousins, the Daikon radish has a mild flavour. Nutritionally speaking, radish is a bit of a power house. It belongs to the Brassica family (think cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts).

In Chinese culture, the health benefits of the radish is so revered, they apparently have proverb that goes something like, “Eating pungent radish and drinking hot tea, let the starved doctors beg on their knees.”

Perhaps we should all be eating more radish!

I had so much radish to play with, I decided it could be put to multiple uses!

And since it was time for my next round of veggie fermenting, I added some to this batch. We’re going for a mix of green and savoy cabbages with carrots, Daikon and caraway seeds* (plus salt) this week…

And then, it was on to my salad making…

Once I had decided on a salad for my radish (Daikon are also great roasted!), I figured I had a couple of ways to go with my flavours.

One of the more common observations I hear from AIPers is that people miss the heat that comes from spice combinations commonly found in curries and the like. And, I have a one word response: H O R S E R A D I S H

So, for my salad, I could go Asian (think wasabi) or, I could go German (think fresh horseradish).

I chose to go German. And, here are the reasons why:

• My Mum is German. Despite, to the best of my recollection, never having sampled ‘Rettichsalat’, aka German radish salad, I felt a small affinity for it
• While I love Japanese flavours, ponzu is commonly used in radish salad dressings. I know coconut aminos are an option for soy sauce substitution, but trying to get my head around the rice wine and mirin additions was sucking the joy out of my Saturday
• I also managed to pick up some fresh horseradish

Rettichsalat it was!

Small admission…

I decided against using my mandolin or shredding blade of my food processor. Instead, I chopped my radish into slightly heavy handed match-sticks by hand.

To see if it could be done.

It could.

And the salad was delish’. But next time, I’ll julienne or grate, I think. Just saying.

MIGHTY Daikon Radish Salad with Horseradish

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

This recipe is AIP Friendly

Author: Joanna Frankham

Recipe type: soups & salads

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 10-15 cm long piece of fresh horseradish
• 3 - 4 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• salt
• 1 large Daikon radish (approximately 1.5 kilos)
• 1 400ml can of coconut cream (refrigerated overnight)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon coconut sugar

Method

1. To prepare the horseradish: peel the skin off your horseradish. Chop into pieces and throw into the bowl of your food processor. Add a tablespoon or two of water. Process until it forms a paste. Add a little salt and one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Pulse to combine*. Taste for seasoning.
2. Peel and julienne your Daikon (by hand, using a mandolin or the appropriate blade on your food processor) Pop the chopped radish into a colander, sprinkle with salt and let the excess water drain for 15 minutes or so.
3. Press out residual water between paper towels.
4. To make an AIP 'sour cream', remove the lid form your cold can of coconut cream. Carefully remove the solid cream portion and pop into your food processor bowl along with fresh lemon juice. Whiz. (Voila! Dairy free sour cream!)
5. Add the vinegar, sugar and 1 tablespoon of horseradish paste to the sour cream. Whiz. Check for seasoning and heat. Adjust to your taste.
6. Add the chopped radish and mix to coat.
7. Pop the salad into the fridge for an hour or two before serving.

Notes

* take care when removing the lid of your processor. Horseradish fumes are strong!

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E N J O Y !

*Caraway seeds are a reintroduction on the Autoimmune Protocol.

This recipe features in the Phoenix Helix Recipe Roundtable