This is an appetiser perfect to nibble with drinks. Smoked Salmon with Grated Daikon Dressing (Mizore-ae) is simply made by tossing smoked salmon strips in flavoured grated daikon. It is surprising to learn that smoked salmon and daikon are a good match. Great to serve chilled.
- 100g/3.5oz daikon (note 1)
- 60g/2.1oz smoked salmon , cut to thin strips
- ½ tsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp light soy sauce (note 2)
- Micro herbs for decoration (optional, note 3)
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Finely grate daikon and place it in a sieve 5 minutes or so to naturally drain excess liquid.
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Toss the sieve a couple of times to shake off more liquid, then transfer the grated daikon to a mixing bowl (note 4).
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Add smoked salmon strips, lemon juice and soy sauce. Mix well but gently trying not to break the salmon strips.
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Transfer to serving bowls shaping it into a mound and place a micro herb leaf on the top of each pile.
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Serve chilled or at room temperature.
1. If you have a whole daikon, use the top part of the daikon near the leaves. It is the sweetest part.
2. I use light soy sauce so that the whiteness of the daikon can be maintained. But if you only have normal soy sauce, it’s OK to use it. The colour of the grated daikon becomes marginally darker.
3. I happened to have micro herbs but it can be any tiny green leaves with neutral flavour.
4. If water accumulates around the grated daikon in the bowl straight away, return the grated daikon to the sieve and squeeze the water out by pressing it gently.
Some daikon comes with much stronger pepperly jolt (almost hot), which is caused by the molecules called isothiocyanate. In general, daikon harvested in summer has more of it, hence stronger flavour. Of the entire daikon root, the portion closer to the leaves is milder and sweeter than the tail end. So, grate the top part of your daikon if you can. Grating daikon by moving the daikon piece lengthwise also reduces the hotness than grating it crosswise.
If your grated daikon is pepperly and hot, you can microwave it without covering for 45 seconds or so to let the isothiocyanate evaporate. Then let it cool down. This reduces the hotness of the daikon.
5. Nutrition per serving as an appetiser.
serving: 42g calories: 23kcal fat: 0.7g (1%) saturated fat: 0.1g (1%) trans fat: 0g polyunsaturated fat: 0.2g monounsaturated fat: 0.3g cholesterol: 3.5mg (1%) sodium: 373mg (16%) potassium: 88mg (3%) carbohydrates: 1.1g (0%) dietary fibre: 0.4g (2%) sugar: 0.6g protein: 3g vitamin a: 0.3% vitamin c: 9.3% calcium: 0.7% iron: 1.3%