I have always enjoyed trying out a new food to eat. Sometimes, it turns out good, and I have a new food to enjoy, and other times, it is yucky, and either the dogs get it, or it might end up in the compost pile. It started when I was a kid, and went shopping with my mom. She would find a new or unusual looking food at the grocery store, often some kind of cheese, and we would take it home and try it. Since I love cheese, most of those were a good find. The ones like Limburger, even though they did not taste all that bad, smelled so awful that I could barely stand to eat them. I determined that any food that I had to pinch my nose shut with my fingers, in order to be able to stand putting the food in my mouth, was just not ever going to be a favorite food for me. We live in a mixed neighborhood, so we have a variety of different ethnic foods in the stores sometimes. Our little neighborhood grocery tries to cater to everyone, and it is owned by a Korean family; so we never know what kinds of interesting things we might find there. My latest adventure find was an odd-looking plant that was about the light green color of a honeydew melon, and the size and shape of an eggplant. Turns out that it is a Korean radish, and is called "mu" when I looked it up on google. Naturally, I tasted it as soon as we got home, and the texture and taste is similar to a turnip. Since they are all in the same family of plants, that makes sense, I guess. When I cooked some slices of the radish, it was more like eating a spicy zucchini squash, and I steamed some and had it for breakfast this morning with my eggs. Pretty tasty ! They also make pickles with these radishes, like you would with a fresh cucumber, by adding vinegar, little salt, sugar, and I added a few red pepper sprinkles. It is now sitting in the refrigerator getting that good flavor, and I will try eating some in a little while. The Korean radish is low calorie, anti-cancer, and has a lot of vitamins and minerals; so I think that I will be adding it to my veggie foods to eat. http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Korean_Radish_178.php
Trying new foods, and new recipes is one of my very favorite things to do. Actually I make it a point when traveling, to check out new markets of that kind with different ethnic food. Nothing like that anywhere near me locally as far as I know. Can't say I've ever heard of Korean radish... I'd probably like it in a salad made like a cucumber salad. In any case, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Interesting, @Yvonne Smith, I've had daikon radish but have never even seen this one. Most of our ethnic foods here are Mexican. I do like turnips though. As for smelly cheese, I don't care how smelly a cheese is I love them all and don't have to hold my nose. There are other smelly foods that I won't eat because of the smell but none come to mind right now. Edit: I just remembered something that as soon as it gets near my nose the smell turns me off...Kefir
@Yvonne Smith , the pickled mu sounds delicious. I wonder if it tastes like the wonderful pickled turnips in Lebanese cuisine. I can't cook Asian very well, although I love it. Korean is off the charts!
Okay, the first report on the pickled radish. It is delicious, and very crispy ! Whereas a cucumber is crispy, but all juicy, this is a much more solid kind of taste. So then I started thinking about a pickled beet, which is one of my most favorite foods. Pickled beets are cooked first, at least any that I have eaten have been cooked. So, I cut the rest of my radish into long quarters, and sliced it about the thickness of a pickled beet, and have them steaming in some beet juice (from a can of pickled beets), and the rest of my vinegar brine. They are turning a beautiful pink color, and one they seem steamed enough, then I will add in the canned beat slices, mix them and refrigerate the whole thing overnight. Perhaps......tasting along the way. The radish has a lot less calories and carbs than beets do, so if this experiment works out, then I can have all of the pickled fresh Korean radish that I want. Here is an easy recipe for making the pickled radish. And this one is done using just the raw plant, which would be even healthier. http://aeriskitchen.com/2011/03/korean-pickled-radish-for-fried-chicken/
My first travel in 2013 was our trip to Bangkok. The place was like the Philippines since the people look like us. However, when it comes to food, Thai food is alien to me. And sadly, there was no dish that caught our fancy. And although the street food was amusing - roasted crickets, scorpion, etc, - we just looked and did not sample. That's our stomach, so choosy with food. By the way, we are going to Bangkok next month so maybe we can gather the courage to sample their dishes again. In fairness, our Hongkong trip wouldn't be complete without the lam biryani, an Indian food that is quite hot but delicious.
Those are radishes and packed with vitamin C. Our home recipes are simple for radish. We pickle them after slicing it to bite size. We keep the tops and the radish for the pickle. After you clean them, cut to bite size. Put in strainer sprinkle with salt sparingly then massage it the salt in the let sit for 5 min. Sprinkle with cider vinegar and toss so all the vegetable is covered. Keep standing for another 5 min., taste test and if you like the tartness refrigerate and when you eat sprinkle with soy sauce. We like it with tea rice. We have a dish made with these radish that is cooked. But to chunk bite size cook in pot till tender then season with bonita flavor packets we call dashi packets, add soy sauce for taste and it's ready for eating. It's rather bland so the soup is where you get the flavor. This is bonita packets or dashi no moto flavoring packets which are inside the box. It's simply delicious to make flavorful dishes with adding soy sauce. You can find it in the Asian section of your supermarket or something like it. Inside is the packet good for a medium sauce pot half full of water, per se 2 cups for one packet. Taste test is the best way to find the flavor you like. image from http://outsidetheaviary.wordpress.com/. You can add any vegetable, pork or meat that you'd like for your soup. You can find recipes at this site the image is from https://cookinginsens.wordpress.com...yle-turkey-simmered-with-carrots-and-turnips/. They have a different type of daikon or radish.
Yum! I love the looks of the above picture. As for the radishes I bet they are related to the daikon radish. When in Florida, my husband had grown some in the back yard and they were huge but very good mild tasting. I could not believe the size of the radishes compared to the tiny things we grow in the north. I used to boil or even bake them in the oven with a beef roast with lots of onions and carrots. They were good sliced as snack food as well. Thanks for the pleasant memories of the big radish.