Daikon

In the world of raw ramen toppings, there are few as iconic in the vegetable realm as daikon. This crunchy, earthy, and aromatic veggie is the perfect way to add both color and texture to a bowl of delicious immi ramen.

Despite it being little more than a simple root vegetable, we found enough reasons to expand on it and explain what it is, when it started making its way into ramen, and why it pairs so well with it. Also, we threw in some different ways you can prep daikon for ramen. 

What is daikon?

Depending on where you’re getting daikon as a topping, it may be very thinly sliced and blanched in the ramen broth. It may also be completely raw and cut into paper thin sleeves. It could even be cut into strands just like the noodles themselves. 

Regardless of how it comes to you in a bowl, it’s delicious and the perfect crunchy texture addition to otherwise less crunchy, chewy, and wholesome ramen. 

History of the topping

This delicious radish has enjoyed a reputation as being the most eaten vegetable in Japan, and for good reason! It’s produced very commonly there, it’s super versatile with the majority of Japanese cuisine, and it’s good when eaten both raw and cooked. 

This radish variety found its way to Japan somewhere around 1,300 years ago. However, it was during the Edo period that it was spread across the country as a viable food item for the general populace. From there it found its way into mainstream Japanese and related cuisines. 

The radish’s existence in Asia is actually a lot longer than that with, with the first cultivation happening in China around 500 BC. These earliest varieties were brought over to China and Asia from the mediterranean where they originally grow. 

Today, Japan produces more daikon than any other vegetable and a major reason for that is the number of dishes this amazing root vegetable is used in. 

Why daikon pairs well with ramen?

The reason why this awesome raw radish goes so well with ramen boils down to two things. 

Number one, it’s just a brilliant taste when eaten raw with savory and saucy foods since it cuts the flavor of the latter a little. Number two, the texture helps offset some of the soft yet chewy texture of the ramen and many of the common toppings that people like to add to it. 

Flavor and texture are also the two basic things we look at when choosing which toppings to add to our bowls of ramen. However, when thinking about what makes daikon great with ramen, we actually went deeper and decided to analyze why it goes great with each separate flavor. 

Shoyu ramen has a tangy, savory, and slightly fermented taste to it. This is because of the soy sauce which can add that classic smoky tang to the tare. Daikon actually has the tangy and sweet flavors of shoyu ramen but in a much more subdued manner. 

The flavor doesn’t pop out until after you have chewed it a couple of times. At that point, you experience a mild earthy but bold sweetness that reminds you of molasses or dark honey. Added to an otherwise salty broth, it turns the flavor up to 11!

Shio ramen is made with salt as the flavor base. While there are some ramen chefs who have shio recipes that are closer to shoyu, the original is a clear broth that has that slightly gritty but otherwise smooth salt flavor you have come to expect from clear thin broths. 

Daikon takes that flavor base and adds some sharp, multi-dimensional sweetness to it. This means that the flavor lasts longer than those initial few chews when the salt flavor starts to die down a bit. 

Miso ramen is an interesting flavor because it has the earthy quality of several root vegetables and retains a funky saltiness that you’ll find in concentrated soy sauces. With miso, you have an already complex flavor that benefits mostly from the texture addition. 

And finally, the rich and hearty tonkotsu ramen which has a cloudy, milky broth has a subtle yet rich flavor. It’s the richness that’s primarily on display with tonkotsu ramen and daikon helps add that aforementioned texture to cut some of the thickness of the broth and noodles. 

Please keep in mind that all of this is for raw daikon, seeing as you can boil that daikon in the broth and release so many more of the internal juices into the broth. However, doing this will change the flavor somewhat so we definitely recommend this only if you’re experimenting. 

As for which flavors of delicious immi ramen it goes great with, we have to say we really can’t decide! 

Daikon pairs well on top of Tom Yum “Shrimp” flavored immi ramen because of the already existing bold tanginess which seems like the natural flavor of the daikon. It goes well with Spicy “Beef” flavored immi ramen because of the existing earthy kick that fills the nostrils and mouth with each bite. 

It pairs great with Black Garlic “Chicken” flavored immi ramen because of how the flavor capitalizes on the deep, nutty, spicy, and wholesome flavor of black garlic. Because daikon has a similar deep flavor, the combo matches really well. 

And finally, it goes with our brand new Spicy Red Miso flavored immi ramen for the same reason it goes with traditional miso ramen – it begins to feel like a natural part of the flavor and not something that’s added on. 

Which other toppings does daikon pair well with?

Here are some of the main toppings that we believe make a great pairing with ramen. 

• Negi: As far as crunchy and vibrant toppings go, negi is up there at the top of the list! It has the perfect texture to compliment a chewy but soft one like ramen and it goes perfect with the bite that daikon provides. 
• Furikake: Furikake was initially designed to add flavor and some light texture to otherwise bland dishes. Let’s face it, daikon doesn’t have the flavor punch that we sometimes want and furikake provides just that. 
• Beni Shoga: A powerful flavor bomb, beni shoga is pickled ginger that’s surprisingly close to daikon in texture, only it’s sliced into strips and is way juicier! The similar flavors compliment each other to where you sort of forget which one’s providing the primary flavor kick. 
• Enoki: Enoki mushrooms have a subtle and slow-releasing flavor and primarily shine through on the texture and shape. We found that subtle flavored toppings actually taste great with bold-flavored ramen due to the aforementioned slow releasing property of their flavors. 

You can also marinate the daikon in yuzu kosho for up to 24 hours to add a subtle spiciness to the final product. 

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