Hi everybody, today I am going to show you how to make five spices dried daikon(white radish).
Here I am using baby daikons.
Or you can use regular white or green radish instead.
Slice the daikons longway into 2cm pieces.
Clean up the skin. If broken or dirty, peel them off.
Remove stem heads and long beard as well.
Rinse and drain the daikons, and toss with some salt.
Here I have 1.8kg of daikons, so I add in about 2 tbs. of salt.
Mix well and then give it a taste.
It should be saltier than a regular dish.
If they are too plain and not salty enough, then you may not be able to keep them for long.
Mix well, and then marinade for about 2-3 hours.
When the daikons appear to be dehydrated, it's time to take them out to dry.
If you have a beautiful weather, leave them at a cool place with air flowing for 1-2 days.
I'm not that fortunate to have a beautiful weather, so I am using a food dehydrator. Dry them for about 8 hours.
Don’t dry them for too long. If daikons are seriously dehydrated, they will end up being extremely chewy.
When they are almost done, heat up five spices powder and szechuan pepper flakes in a pan.
Stir for about 10-20 secs until fragrant. Don’t heat it for too long or it will become bitter.
So your dried daikons look like this after 8 hours of dehydration.
The skin shrinks and becomes crumple, and very dry to touch, no longer tacky.
You can feel that they are leathery.
Sprinkle some sugar.
Toss with five spices powder and szechuan pepper flakes mixture, and mix well.
Toss and rub to ensure even coating on every daikon.
Rub like this with your hands.
Next, let's put them in a jar.
Use a clean glass jar.
Put everything in it.
Press down with your palm.
Doing so may help keep daikons for a longer period of time.
And help them absorb more flavor.
Seal the jar, and place it in the fridge for a couple of days before you serve.
Every time you want to serve them, make sure you use a pair of very clean chopsticks to pick them out of the jar.
You can eat it like this, or, I personally like to drizzle with some sesame oil.
Or, you can chop them up and stir fry with soya beans or vegetables.
So these simple dried baby daikons are done.
You can store them in the fridge for about a month.
Very versatile and convenient to serve with congee or other dishes.
I hope you enjoy this simple recipe, and thanks for watching.