Daikon

Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus · mooli · labu · white radish

The winter vegetable that keeps its shape in the pot.

What it is

Daikon is a large white radish, often a foot or more long, with crisp dense flesh that is peppery raw and loses almost all of that when cooked. Simmered, it turns from opaque white to faintly translucent and takes on whatever it is cooked in, and a long-braised meat dish wants precisely that from a vegetable. It also keeps for weeks in a cold store, and it carries the Himalayan winter on that alone.

Where it comes from

East Asian in origin and now grown everywhere, reaching the Himalaya through Tibet and the Chinese trade. It is the same plant whose leaves become gundruk and whose root becomes sinki, making it one of the hardest-working vegetables in the zone.

What it's called

Daikon (Japanese) · mooli (Hindi and Urdu) · labu (Tibetan) · white radish. Botanically Raphanus sativus. Ordinary small red radishes are a different variety and will not stand in.

In the kitchen

Cut into thick half moons and added partway through a braise, so it softens into the sauce without collapsing. It goes into phaksha paa with pork belly and into shakam paa with dried beef, and into guthuk cut into finger-length strips. Soak the strips in cold salted water and rinse them if you want the strong radish smell out before it reaches the broth.

What we know about the claims

Low in calories and high in water and vitamin C, with a long folk reputation as a digestive that is probably down to the enzymes in the raw root. Cooked, most of that is gone and what remains is a good vegetable.

Choosing and buying

Sold as daikon, mooli or white radish at any East or South Asian grocer in the UK and increasingly in large supermarkets. In the US, H Mart, any Asian grocery, or a well-stocked supermarket. Choose one that is firm and heavy with taut skin; a limp daikon has been out of the ground too long.