Recipes with radish

Samma no Surimi Jiru (Pacific Saury Fish Ball Soup)

Pacific saury is pounded in a mortar until sticky, mixed with miso, egg and sake, and shaped into balls that go into plain water first. The miso and fish in the balls turn that water into broth, and daikon, carrot and tofu follow.

Prep 30min Cook 35min 6 servings

Prep 20min Cook 25min 4 servings

Korean Dried Radish Greens & Clam Soybean Stew

Dried radish greens (siraegi) sauteed in perilla oil bring a nutty, chewy base, and clams add a clean, briny broth on top of it. The clams are added near the end and release salt as they open, so final seasoning waits until after they do.

Prep 15min Cook 22min 2 servings

Korean Braised Yellow Croaker

Soft, mild yellow croaker with little fishiness needs nothing more than a simple sauce of soy, gochugaru and garlic. Some croaker is sold already salted and needs less soy sauce. Taste before adding the full amount. Sliced radish under the fish keeps it from sticking and turns sweet and tender in the liquid. Korean families often put this on holiday tables, and the saucy braising liquid is meant to be spooned over rice.

Kimchi Medium

Korean Young Radish Water Kimchi

The broth stays clear because garlic and ginger are wrapped in cheesecloth and squeezed in cold water for their aroma alone, leaving no solids floating around. Young radish greens (yeolmu) are salted just until they slump slightly, so the stems keep some snap, and thin slices of radish let the broth pick up flavor quickly. Ginger is the one ingredient to hold back on: too much, or left steeping too long, turns the broth bitter. Filtered cold water gives the cleanest taste, since nothing is boiled.

Prep 30min 0 4 servings

Iwashi Dango Jiru (Sardine Dumpling Soup)

The sardines are ground in a mortar until no grain is left, then mixed with grated mountain yam, egg and miso into a sticky paste for the dumplings. The miso seasons the dumplings themselves, so the broth needs only a little soy sauce.

Prep 25min Cook 25min 4 servings

Prep 20min Cook 35min 4 servings

Korean Dried Greens Mackerel Stew

Radish lines the bottom of the pot, dried radish greens go on top, and mackerel sits above both, with rice-rinse water poured slowly in at the edge. Chili flakes alone, no gochujang, keep the broth a clear red rather than a cloudy one. The mackerel is cooked on the bone, and the flesh is picked off with chopsticks at the table.

Prep 20min Cook 30min 2 servings

Korean Steamed Pacific Saury

Oily Pacific saury can braise for a good twenty minutes in a spicy soy broth and still come out moist. Laying the fish in a single layer over thick radish slices, and pouring water in around the edge rather than over the top, keeps the soft flesh in whole pieces. Skimming the foam when it first boils keeps the sauce clean, and spooning the liquid over the fish midway seasons the exposed top. The liquid is cooked down until only a shallow layer remains, which coats both the fish and the radish. Whatever sauce is left gets spooned onto rice.

Kimchi Medium

Gunma Yuzu Maki

Thin daikon rounds, dried for a full day in sun and wind, are rolled around fine strips of yuzu peel and left in sweet vinegar until the citrus perfume runs through the jar. Gunma's dry winter, with its karakkaze wind, supported a wide habit of drying konjac, persimmons and daikon, and this pickle grew from that practice. It appears at winter celebrations and can take the place of red-and-white namasu in osechi. Only the thin colored zest of the yuzu is used, with the bitter white pith cut away. Drying makes the slices pliable enough to roll without cracking while keeping a pleasant chew.

Prep 480min Cook 5min 25 servings

Galbitang (Clear Korean Beef Short Rib Soup)

Unlike milky seolleongtang, galbitang should come out nearly clear, yet the short ribs still leave a faint richness from their fat. For that clarity the ribs are soaked to draw out blood, then blanched and rinsed before the real simmer starts. Leftover broth sets like jelly in the fridge.

Prep 60min Cook 150min 4 servings

Stews Easy

Korean Beef and Daikon Stew

With no chili, the broth stays clear and tastes plainly of sweet radish and beef. Once the radish turns translucent, rice goes straight into the bowl.

Prep 10min Cook 25min 2 servings

Prep 10min Cook 30min 4 servings

Korean Braised Saury in Spicy Sauce

Canned saury comes with bones already softened, so draining and rinsing it cuts the cooking time roughly in half, while fresh saury takes longer to cook through. Either way the oily flesh holds its own against a sauce of gochujang and gochugaru, and the radish underneath turns into a sweet, sauce-soaked braise of its own.

Soups Hard

Korean Short Rib and Octopus Soup

Short ribs simmer with radish for an hour before octopus joins them, and the pot ends up part beef soup, part seafood soup. Koreans also make it for boknal, the hottest days of summer.

Prep 30min Cook 80min 4 servings

Prep 15min Cook 25min 4 servings

Korean Beef & Mung Bean Sprout Stew

Brisket simmered in plain water, with the foam skimmed off, makes a clear broth that a spoonful of gochugaru turns spicy. The 250 g of mung bean sprouts go in at the very end for two minutes at most, which keeps them crisp against the soft beef. It is ladled hot over rice.

Steamed Hard

Korean Braised Oxtail (Soy Collagen Radish Braise)

Collagen from the oxtail joints melts into the pot over a long simmer, thickening the sauce to a glossy, sticky finish while the meat slips off the bone. The tails first simmer for 90 minutes with just green onion and ginger, so the meat is tender before the soy sauce and sugar are added. Radish and carrot join for the last stretch, sweetening the sauce and soaking it up. Chilled, the sauce sets like jelly and melts again on reheating, and lifting off the fat that hardens on top makes the braise taste cleaner. The dish is a fixture of Korean holiday tables.

Prep 30min Cook 150min 4 servings

Soups Easy

Korean Gangwon-Style Dried Pollock Hangover Soup

The shredded pollock is fried in sesame oil until golden before any water goes in, and that step gives this Gangwon version a nuttier smell than ordinary bugeoguk. It is a clear hangover soup with no chili, finished with beaten egg that sets into soft curds.

Korean Ugeoji Doenjang Stew

As it simmers, the tough stems of the ugeoji (blanched outer napa cabbage leaves) loosen and soak up the doenjang. A little gochujang tints the broth reddish, and rice-rinse water gives it more body than plain water would.

Prep 15min Cook 30min 4 servings

Korean Spicy Braised Semi-Dried Pollock

The firm, slightly chewy flesh of half-dried pollock holds together through a long spicy braise and takes the seasoning all the way in. Gochugaru and gochujang together give the sauce body and a deep red color, and a spoonful of syrup added near the end gives it shine. Basting two or three times beats flipping, which only tears the fish. When the sauce turns thick and sticks to the pollock, it is ready to serve with the radish and a bowl of rice.

Soups Easy

Korean Dried Shrimp Radish Soup

Toasting the dried shrimp in sesame oil first drives off their staleness, and their aroma alone is enough to carry the broth without anchovy stock. Season with salt instead of soup soy sauce and the soup stays clearer.

Prep 10min Cook 20min 4 servings

Prep 25min Cook 35min 4 servings

Kodari Jorim (Korean Braised Pollack)

Dried only partway in the sea wind on Korea's east coast, kodari pollock keeps some moisture in its flesh. Braised, it turns chewy without the dry, fibrous texture of fully dried hwangtae or bugeo. Radish under the fish keeps it off the hot pot bottom while a spicy-sweet sauce of gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce and sugar cooks into it over about half an hour. It tastes even better after a night in the fridge, and leftover sauce makes a good bibimbap seasoning.

Korean Spicy Blue Crab Soup

Blue crab in its spring or autumn season is halved and simmered in a radish broth with a little doenjang and chili flakes. The shells turn red well before the meat is cooked through. Crack the claws with the back of a knife beforehand and the meat comes out easily at the table.

Korean Steamed Croaker (White Fish Radish Soy)

The croaker keeps its white flesh and mild flavor instead of tasting of soy because the soy sauce stays out of the pot until the radish is tender and only then gets stirred into the broth and spooned over the fish. Thick slices of Korean radish line the bottom, shielding the fish from direct heat and sweetening the liquid as they soften. Rice wine and thinly sliced ginger handle any fishiness, which is why the seasoning can stay this light. The green onion cooks for just 1 minute at the end to keep its aroma. Croaker has fine-grained, delicate flesh, and a gentle steam-braise rather than a hard boil keeps the pieces whole for a shared table of four.

Gomchi-guk (Eelpout Fish Radish Soup)

Eelpout is so soft that a spoon breaks it apart, and the pot is gently shaken rather than stirred while it simmers. Gelatin from the fish gives the clear broth a slight body. On the east coast of Gangwon and North Gyeongsang it is a winter dish, served at harbor restaurants in earthenware bowls.