Daikon cakes

My sister-in-law, also a CSA member (although a different CSA, as she doesn't live near us), sent me a recipe for daikon cakes.  Given that we have lots of daikon radishes, I decided to give it a try.  

Based on her suggestion, I cut the amount of salt in the recipe.  Now that we've made it a few times, once with the husband using the printed recipe on which I didn't write the correction, it is clear that the recipe is way too high in its salt content as posted.

I've been doubling the recipe, as I like eating the cold cakes as leftovers.  The leftovers also heat up pretty well in the toaster oven.

Here's the ingredient list for the double batch:

3 cups grated daikon radish (a bit more or less is okay, if your daikon isn't exactly sized)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2-3 shallots, or a small onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup of panko bread crumbs (I've tried regular bread crubs and panko.  I think the cakes have a better texture with panko.)
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Sriracha
1/3 cup oil for frying (I used olive oil)


If you prefer your foods a bit less spicy, cut the amounts of pepper and Sriracha -- but the cakes really aren't that hot.

Here's my daikon and a shallot with three bulbs.

Peel and grate the daikon.  It's our friend, the box grater.  Large holes.

Once grated, put the daikon in a bowl, put the 1/2 teaspoon of salt on it, then stir to mix in the salt.  Put the bowl into the fridge for at least a half hour.  The salt is going to make the daikon shed some of its water.

After the time is up (or when you're ready to move to the next step), drain the daikon.  I also squeeze it a bit to encourage some additional water to come out.

Cut the onion/shallots finely and add in two cloves of garlic.  I put my garlic through a press, but you can chop it finely if you'd rather.

Here you see the squeezed daikon, the shallot and garlic mix, and the panko crumbs.

Put all of the ingredients into a bowl.

Stir.

Put a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  Form the mixture into patties.

Add the oil to your pan (I'm using a 12" skillet here -- I've used both nonstick and regular with no difference, given the amount of oil -- the night I made this batch, I had something else in the other pan) and turn it on to a medium high heat.  Add half of the patties when the oil is hot (but not smoking).  I put them in by sliding them off of a spatula.

After three minutes, flip the daikon cakes.  The observant reader will notice that a daikon cake has magically appeared in the photo below.  I cooked two batches of differing quantities, and forgot to take the first side photo of the first batch.

Drain the daikon cakes on paper towels on plate.  Try one to make sure it is good.  (It will be, but you should still try one while you're waiting for the second batch to fry.)

 Plate and serve.

 We had them as an accompaniment to shrimp with a seafood rub, cooked sous vide.

Husband likes to eat the daikon cakes with oyster sauce.  He's been frequenting an Asian market lately.

Note that the recipe claims the single batch is for four servings.  The two of us can eat a single batch, particularly when we don't have other sides or a big main dish.  The double batch (which is the amount in this post) leaves leftovers for the next day for lunches, which is always a good thing.  Eat cold or warm them in a toaster oven.