Thursday, October 27, 2011

Vegan MoFo - X is for Xiang Luo Bu Si


X was always going to be the trickiest letter so I spent a bit of time hunting down recipes and came across this interesting Chinese side dish called Xiang Luo Bu Si which translates to Sounding Radish Slivers. The main ingredient of this recipe is daikon radish which is something I haven't cooked with before but I am always interested in experimenting with a new ingredient.

As this was only a side dish, I looked for a Chinese noodle recipe from the recipe testing pool to make it a full meal. The most challenging part was managing two woks and getting the timing right. Although I only have one wok burner, my other largest burner seemed to do a decent job of cooking the daikon side dish in my small wok. I didn't take a shot of the noodles but they were really nice and a little different to others I have made previously.

The daikon wasn't a hit with my son but he loved the noodles. The man loved the daikon and I thought it was alright but not fantastic. It wasn't until writing this post that I realised I had forgotten to finish it off with a drizzle of sesame oil. I had to go back and drizzle sesame oil on the leftovers which really did make a world of difference.    


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Xiang Luo Bu Si (Slightly adapted from a recipe on food.com)

400g daikon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 bird's eye chilli
2 spring onions, green part only
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar
3/4 teaspoon rice flour
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Peel and cut the daikon into finger-sized thin slices, then cut each of these pieces into slivers. Combine in a bowl with some salt and set aside for 15 minutes. Finely chop the chilli and slice the spring onion into slivers of a similar size to the daikon. Mix the rice flour and water into a paste in a small bowl. Drain the moisture from the daikon and squeeze dry.

Heat the wok until smoking, then add the peanut oil and swirl to coat the sides of the wok with oil. Stir-fry the chilli for a few seconds then add the daikon and soy sauce and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add the spring onions and vinegar and stir well, then add the rice flour paste and stir rapidly until it thickens and becomes glossy. Remove from the heat, drizzle with sesame oil and serve immediately.

6 comments:

  1. Oh yum... radish slivers! It looks really good, and nice work with the X. :D

    I've never cooked with daikon either and wanted to during this MoFo but it just didn't happen.

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  2. I've never played with daikon before, but the slivers sound really good--chili & sesame oil make everything delish!

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  3. good pick - I could only think of xanthum gum!

    What did you think of daikon - would you use it again - I have never eaten it either and some days I think it must be like radish and others I think it must be like radish

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  4. i love the sound and flavors in this.. i usually stuff indian breads with grated daikon and some spices(Mooli paratha).. and am always ont he lookout for more to do with it!

    Richa @ Hobby And More Food Blog

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  5. Thanks coldandsleepy, X was a tough one.

    Thanks Jes, I love chilli and sesame oil too.

    Thanks Carrie!

    Thanks Johanna, I haven't really eaten radishes much at all so it's difficult to compare daikon to a standard radish. I will be using daikon in recipe testing soon, will make sure that I post about it.

    Thanks Richa, indian breads stuffed with daikon and spices sounds really good.

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