Daikon Steak with Garlic Soy Butter Sauce is quite a filling dish, although the main ingredient is just daikon. The daikon is very tender and nicely browned on both sides (like a good steak). The garlic-flavoured soy-butter Sauce goes so well with the daikon. See the Video.
Use plant-based butter to make it a vegan dish.
- 12cm / 4¾" long daikon , 7-8cm / 2¾-3⅛" in diameter (note 1)
- 600ml / 1.3pt konbu dashi (note 2)
- 2 cloves garlic , thinly sliced
- 1½ tbsp oil
- 15g / 0.5oz butter , diced (note 3)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp mirin
- 2 tsp cooking sale
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Cut the daikon into four 3cm (1⅛”)-thick discs. Make sure the cut surfaces are flat and not bumpy so that the daikon browns evenly with no uncooked patches.
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Peel the skin from each daikon (do not discard the skins) and trim the round edges of the daikon discs (mentori).
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Score a criss-cross pattern on the flat surfaces of the daikon on both sides. The scoring should be about 5mm / 3⁄16" apart and 5mm / 3⁄16" deep.
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Cut the peeled skins into square pieces.
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Put 4 daikon discs, dashi stock, and chopped daikon skin pieces in a pot. Bring it to a boil.
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Reduce the heat to medium, place a lid on and cook for about 30-40 minutes until the daikon pieces become tender (note 5).
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Transfer the daikon pieces to a tray or plate. Put the dashi stock through a sieve and reserve it for later use.
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Put the oil and garlic in a frying pan and heat over medium-low heat for about 2½ - 3 minutes, until the edge of the garlic slices start browning. Remove the pan from the heat.
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Put the oil through a sieve lined with kitchen paper and collect the oil. You should get minimum of 1 tablespoon of garlic-infused oil.
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If there are brown bits of the fried garlic in the pan, wipe them off.
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Put the garlic-infused oil into the frying pan and heat over medium heat.
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Place the daikon pieces in the pan, flat side down, and cook for about 3 minutes, until the bottoms of the daikon pieces are well browned or almost charred (note 6).
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Turn them over and cook in the same way.
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Add the butter to the pan and cook for about 30 seconds. Turn the daikon over and cook for a further 30 seconds.
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Add 200ml / ⅘ cup / 6.7fl oz of the reserved dashi stock, mirin, cooking sake, and soy sauce to the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes with a lid on, then remove the lid.
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Continue cooking for another couple of minutes until the liquid reduces to about 3-4 tablespoons. Baste the liquid over the surface of the daikon pieces while cooking.
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Remove the pan from the heat, transfer two pieces of daikon to each serving plate. Pour the garlic soy butter sauce over them. Serve while hot.
1. My daikon was 560g / 1.2lb in total. The length of the daikon is critical here since it is cut into 3cm-thick discs. The diameter can vary slightly. If you can only find a daikon with a small diameter, you may want to make 6 pieces of 3cm (1⅛”)-thick-thick daikon, i.e. 18cm / 7 1⁄16" daikon before cutting. If your daikon is very large, you may only need one 3cm-thick daikon slice per serving.
2. Instead of konbu dashi, you can use standard dashi stock made with bonito flakes.
3. For a vegan dish, use plant-based butter.
4. Instead of pre-cooking the daikon discs in a pot, you can cook them in the microwave if you prefer. Put the ingredients in a large, microwave-safe bowl or container, and microwave for 15–20 minutes.
5. Check if a thin bamboo skewer easily goes through the daikon piece.
6. While cooking, gently press down the centre of each daikon piece with a spatula to ensure the centre of the daikon touches the pan and gets browned. You may also want to check the browning of the daikon a couple of times and change the position of the daikon pieces if they are not browning evenly.
7. You can cook the daikon ahead of time, up to the end of the Pre-cook Daikon steps, and store the daikon and the broth in the fridge.
8. It is best to serve the daikon steak immediately, but it can keep for a few days in the fridge. The longer you keep the daikon steak, the more sauce the daikon absorbs into the daikon, and you might find it a touch salty.