This comforting dish is both healthy and easy to put together. It's full of flavors from sweet daikon, ground pork, and shiitake mushrooms. We season with soy sauce and oyster sauce. Perfect with a bowl of rice.
Braised Daikon, Pork, and Mushroom
I love cooking with daikon and this dish is one of my favorite ways to prepare it. Daikon is quickly braised (only 20 minutes cooking time on the stove) with ground pork and fresh shiitake mushrooms for a hearty, saucy dish.
This dish is meant to be eaten with rice. It so packed with flavor from the meaty pork bits, the sweetness of fresh daikon (which is also super good for you), and savory mushrooms. Get a big bowl of rice and ladle on a generous portion of this braise. It's so onolicious!
Unlike a lot of "comfort food", this is a fairly healthy dish and one that we often make on cooler days. You can even double this recipe, it keeps well in the fridge and always comes in handy for quick meals.
Ingredients
This dish calls for 3 main ingredients:
- Daikon
- Ground Pork
- Shiitake Mushrooms
4 aromatics:
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Green Onions
- Star Anise
3 seasoning ingredients:
1 (optional) ingredient to help thicken the dish:
Method
This is a very straightforward dish to prepare. Everything is done in one medium size saucepan.
Put a little oil in the saucepan and saute the ginger and garlic till it's golden. Add in the white part of the chopped green onions. Saute for a bit longer.
Then add the ground pork and brown that. Then add in the daikon and mushrooms, mix well.
Add the star anise (we'll remove this before serving). Add the soy sauce, sake, oyster sauce, and water. Stir and mix. Then place on the lid and let braise for 15 minutes over medium heat.
Then remove the star anise. Add the cornstarch slurry (a mixture of cornstarch and water that helps to thicken the dish). Cook over medium-high heat for a few minutes, and then stir in the green parts of the green onions.
Ta-dah! You are done. So easy, ready to eat with rice ^_^
Daikon
We love daikon! Daikon is a white radish that is often used in Chinese and Japanese cooking (makes sense that daikon is popular in Hawaii because a large part of our population is Chinese and Japanese).
Daikon also goes by a few other names:
- Chinese radish
- Japanese radish
- White radish
Daikon is considered a health food because it has a ton of fiber and is also low in calories. People also believe that daikon makes your immune system stronger.
All these health benefits are great, but I mainly love daikon because it is so delicious. When braised it becomes so tender and sweet and soaks up all the good flavors of the dish.
If you like daikon, also try this recipe for Simmered Daikon.
Shiitake Mushrooms
This recipe calls for fresh shiitake mushrooms. If you don't have fresh ones, you can use dried shiitake mushrooms (make sure to rehydrate them in hot water for an hour first).
We always keep a bag of dried shiitakes mushrooms in the refrigerator. They come in handy for many other dishes like Chicken Hekka and Japchae.
If you don't have fresh or dried shiitake mushrooms, you can use any other type of fresh mushrooms! Crimini, portobello, etc. Shiitakes are the "traditional" mushrooms for this dish, but all fresh mushrooms work great.
Cornstarch
Step 8 of this recipe calls for making a cornstarch slurry. What is a cornstarch slurry? It's a mixture of cornstarch and water. Cornstarch is a thickener, so when the slurry is poured into the dish it helps to thicken the dish.
Use a 1:2 ratio of cornstarch to water.
The whole point of first mixing the cornstarch with cool water (as opposed to spooning the cornstarch directly into the saucepan) is to make sure the cornstarch doesn't clump up. Make sure you use cool water, not hot water (as hot water will also cause clumps).
This cornstarch slurry step is optional, but I like doing it because it turns the rich and flavorful liquid in this dish from liquidy to saucy. That thicker, saucy texture is perfect for spooning over rice. Almost like a gravy.
Questions
4-5 days in the refrigerator, in a sealed container.
This is a good dish to "meal prep." Cook it on the weekend, and you are set for easy lunches and dinners throughout the week. Just cook rice, heat up the dish and spoon it over the rice.
You can replace sake with dry sherry or shaoxing (Chinese rice wine or Chinese cooking wine).
If you don't want to use any alcohol, replace the sake with chicken broth (or any other type of broth).
Tofu! I love adding soft, cubed tofu to this dish. Make sure to increase the amounts of soy sauce and oyster sauce by about 25-50% (depending on how flavorful you like it) if you do this.
Braised Daikon, Pork, and Mushroom Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Braised Daikon, Pork, and Mushroom
This comforting dish is both healthy and easy to put together. It's full of flavors from sweet daikon, ground pork, and shiitake mushrooms. We season with soy sauce and oyster sauce. Perfect with a bowl of rice.
Ingredients
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 2-inch knob of ginger, minced
- 2 green onions, chopped (separate the whites and greens)
- ½ pound ground pork
- 1 pound daikon, cut into ½-inch thick half moons
- 12 fresh shiitake mushrooms
- 2 whole star anise
- 1 tablespoon sake
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- In a saucepan, saute the garlic and ginger over medium-high heat till lightly browned, about 3 minutes.
- Add the scallion whites. Saute one more minute.
- Add the ground pork. Saute till browned.
- Add the daikon and shiitake mushrooms. Stir to combine.
- Add the star anise, followed by the sake, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. Add in 1 ½ cups of water. Stir to mix evenly.
- Place the lid on the saucepan. Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes (until the daikon is cooked through, it should look slightly translucent).
- Remove the lid. Remove and discard the star anise.
- Make a cornstarch slurry by mixing together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the saucepan.
- Bring the heat up to medium-high, sit and let cook for another 3 minutes until the dish goes from liquidy to saucy.
- Stir in the green parts of the green onions. Turn off the heat. Serve over a bowl of rice!
I planted daikon in my garden again this year. It's hard to find in Oregon so I grow it. Ono in curry and stir fry or straight out of the garden. Thanks for this recipe, now I have another to try.
Thanks, Gretchen 🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe. So impressive that you're growing daikon!
- Kathy
Spouse and I can't eat oysters. Any recommendations for substituting the oyster sauce? This looks so yummy!
Look for vegetarian options, they are made from mushrooms and mimick the taste. Or you can trplace with fish sauce, but it's not the same taste 🙂
A very mild and comforting dish. Comes together very quickl and is tasty. I used chicken thigh that I minced in the foodprocessor and increased the seasoning by about 50%. Already thinking about what to serve it with next time - would be nice to have something crunchy with a hint of spice on the side. What would you suggest as a side dish or second dish?
This was delicious! I didn't have star anise so I used 5 spice powder instead.
Aloha Carol! Thanks for the comment, so happy you enjoyed the dish ^_^
- Kathy
Hi! Do you think it would be okay if I used ground turkey?
Aloha Kristen - I haven't made it with turkey before, but you can definitely try! I think it will still be pretty tasty 🙂
- Kathy
Quick, easy and delicious! I made it as prescribed, but added a splash of rice vinegar at the end to brighten it up a bit.
Aloha Lisa - That's a great idea, love it! 🙂
- Kathy