Japanese Pickled Daikon 大根漬け

Do you enjoy pickled daikon at a Japanese restaurant, especially at a sushi place as much as I do? If so, here's one recipe that you cannot miss. 

Usually this type of sweet and sour flavored pickled daikon is prepared with yuzu. However, I've substituted yuzu with lemon, which comes with a much friendlier price tag. The end result is still aromatic and refreshing, just a slight detour on that citrusy touch.

Japanese pickled daikon 大根漬け - 

Ingredients?

• 1 medium chunk daikon
• 2 thin slices lemon skin

Marinade: 

• 100ml rice vinegar
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

How?

Take a medium pot and add in all the ingredients listed under the "marinade" section. Bring to a light boil then turn off the heat. Make sure all the sugar has been dissolved. Set aside and wait till it cools off.

Peel and cut out a medium chunk of daikon. Slice the daikon to about 1.5 to 2mm thickness then slice to quarters.

Skin the lemon and try your best not to cut to the white part, see if a peeler can do a better job. We are aiming for the yellow surface of the lemon only. Slice the skin to thin strips.

Use a Ziploc, add in all the daikon along with the marinade and lemon strips. 

Seal and gently massage the daikon with the marinade. Into the fridge for at least two hours.

When ready to serve, simply take it straight out of the fridge and enjoy. You can keep the remaining pickled daikon together with the marinade for couple more days in the fridge, perhaps switch to a Tupperware instead. The sourness level remains about the same over time, so no worries.

The sweet and sour flavored pickled daikon is sometimes served alongside kamameshi. But personally speaking, I think it's especially good with spicy curry. Its refreshing and cold touch can be a helper when something fiery is about to knock you down. 

By the way, before I made this dish, I did find yuzu at my local grocery store. It was smaller than a tangerine. Do you want to guess how much was it?

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$7.25 USD ($220 NTD) for one small yuzu. Now you know why after a second thought, I've switched to lemon instead.

Extended reading:

• Pickled skinny cucumber and kimchi