Daikon radish and Konnyaku Dengaku (miso glaze)
Daikon and Konnyaku Dengaku (sweet miso glaze) is a Japanese appetizer that reminds me of my trips to Kyoto (where tofu is a specialty). Some of my tastiest memories are eating the dengaku glazes in the many restaurants that serve it. I took that nostalgia and desire to eat more miso and applied it to daikon radish and konnyaku. The flavor is perfect, with a delicate balance between sweet and salty. This dengaku miso glaze is one you can apply to many different vegetables. If only you dare…
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 people 1x
- Category: side
- Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients
Daikon
- 5–6 in slices of daikon (1in thick and scored into quarters, about 1/4 deep on both sides)
- 4 cups togijiru (water used to rinse rice)
Dashi seasoning
- 2 cups dashi (half strength)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 piece konnyaku (cut into triangles)
Miso Dengaku (miso glaze)
- 1/4 cup miso paste
- 1/4 tsp dashi powder
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp mirin
- 2 Tbsp water
Instructions
Daikon
- Peel and slice the daikon into 1/2 in slices. (Optional: smooth out the edges on the sides to create a rounded look. You can also smooth out the corners after slicing)
- Score the top and bottom about 1/4 in deep forming a shallow plus sign once scored. (This helps to cook the daikon faster and will allow it to better absorb the dashi broth in the next few steps.)
- Add 4 cups togijiru to a pot and bring to a boil, add daikon in and cook roughly 20 minute until you can easily pierce with a chopstick.
Dashi seasoning
- Prepare 2 cups of dashi, at half strength and add a 1 tsp of soy sauce. Bring to a boil then simmer. Add in the daikon and konnyaku and cook for 3-5 minutes .
- Strain konnyaku and daikon from the pot and place on a serving plate.
Miso Dengaku (miso glaze)
- Mix all the ingredients under miso dengaku in a bowl. Add to a small saucepan and heat on low heat for 3-5 minutes until slightly thickened.
- Once at the desired thickness remove from heat and immediately spread on konnyaku and daikon.
Notes
If you want very round shaped daikon pieces, use your knife to peel and smooth the sharp corners/edges, as you would peel the skin off an apple. It’s easier to do this before slicing, when the daikon is one big piece.
To enhance the flavor of the daikon, I lightly scored both sides of each slice. This helps the daikon slices to absorb the dashi soy sauce flavors from the broth the second time we cook it.