I had never in all my years of cooking, made anything with daikon, but someone asked me on The Kind Cook Facebook page about it. It got the little wheels in my head churning and then the other day I was at my organic grocers and I spotted a daikon.
I just threw in a bit of this and a bit of that, so you may want to change some of the ingredients. But I just went with Asian flavours that I thought would complement the daikon. I also wanted texture and crunch which is why I added the nuts.
I also really wanted little chunky patties. This meant the middle warmed through but essentially remain uncooked. Daikon can be eaten raw though, so I have no concerns there and the outside has texture. I guess if you flatten them if you wish to.
I didn’t think I would daikon, BUT I love these. It’s always cool to experiment with something new too. And the outcome was incredibly fragrant with the sesame oil and spring onions
YOU NEED
2 loose (ish) cups of daikon, peeled and grated
1/2 cup of spring onion aka “scallions”, washed and finely sliced
1 very generous teaspoon of sesame oil (mine over flowed by accident but turned out to be a nice amount)
3 teaspoons of sesame seeds
3 teaspoons of egg replacer, mixed well with 3 teaspoons of water until it forms a watery paste
1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder (I didn’t have any fresh on hand)
2 tablespoons of roasted and salted peanuts, crushed or roughly chopped
4 teaspoons of flour (I used red rice flour but use whatever is at hand and gluten free if that’s what you require)
1/2 cup of bread crumbs (always check the ingredients as most bread crumbs contain some dairy, eggs, fish etc)
oil for cooking
YOU DO
Once you have peeled and grated the daikon, place it on a plate and sprinkle a teaspoon of salt over the top. Leave it there while you collect and prepare all your other ingredients.
Once you have all your other ingredients washed, chopped and ready to go, throw them all into a large bowl.
Then go back to you daikon plate and grab handfuls of the daikon and squeeze all the water out of it. You want it to be as dry as possible. Once you have done that just throw it into the bowl with all the other ingredients.
Combine all the ingredients together and form into small balls, then flatten slightly into patties.
Press each patty down into the bread crumbs. Repeat for the other side.
Heat some oil in a large pan and cook the patties for a few minutes on each side until they are a golden brown.
Serve immediately with chilli and or tamari.
Yields: 8 small patties
Time: 30 mins
Freezing: Not suitable.
