Pickled radish

Chicken-mu 치킨무

If you’ve ever ordered Korean fried chicken at a restaurant before, you might have been served this pickled radish, called chicken-mu. Tiny cold radish cubes, pickled in sweet, sour, and just a little salty brine is very refreshing when paired with super crispy Korean fried or roasted chicken.

The recipe is so simple and easy, which is one reason I didn’t make a video about it, until now! But I’ve been asked about it so many times I decided to make a video for my lovely readers. I remember one time in Toronto, and another time in Los Angeles, people recognized me and right after saying hello, they asked for this recipe. I told them it was easy and explained how to make it, but they preferred a video instead of my live explanation!

Ingredients

  • 1 pound peeled Korean radish, cut into 1/3 inch cubes
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • ¾ cup water

Directions

Combine sugar, vinegar, kosher salt, and water in a large bowl and mix well until salt and sugar are well dissolved.
Add the radish and stir a few times and transfer to an airtight container or a glass jar. Keep in the refrigerator at least 2 hours before serving.
Refrigerate up to 2 weeks.

Leave your rating:

So far this is rated 5/5 from 27921 votes

Be the first to rate this.

37 Comments:

  1. Shams.s Portugal joined 3/23 & has 1 comment

    Can I use rice vinegar instead of white vinegar?

  2. Darlene L Canada joined 2/22 & has 5 comments

    Instead of adding 3/4 cup water, I added 3/4 cup green onion kimchi sauce that I had left over from maangchi recipe for green onion kimchi <——which is fabulous!
    I’ll let you know how my pickled radish turns out…but I know it’s going to be great!

  3. ChristinaC California joined 2/17 & has 8 comments

    “Chicken, Coke, high calorie! But I don’t care! Because it’s delicious!”
    I totally agree! The only time I absolutely have to have a Coke is with Korean fried chicken!

  4. AdelineYap Malaysia joined 7/21 & has 5 comments

    It’s so addictive this pickled radish, Maangchi. Kamsahamida for the recipe.


    See full size image

  5. Rosemund Massachusetts joined 9/20 & has 2 comments

    Maangchi!

    I have been so inspired by your cookbook and your website. I love Korean food, and dedicated one quarter of my garden this year to growing veg I can use to make Korean dishes!

    The good news: I had great success, thanks to your advice on growing kaenips. They’re really fun to grow! I plan to grow more indoors over the New England winter.

    The distressing bit: I planted two rows, about 8sq.ft of Korean daikon. I thought if half survived, that would be a good crop to pickle. The season was amazing for daikon however, and I now have over 35lbs of monster mu to pickle. Many are the size of wine bottles!

    My questions to you: can this chicken-mu recipe be made and put into a hot water canning bath to preserve for long term storage? Does it affect the quality of the pickle, and should I increase the vinegar in order to preserve it for a longer time? I’m using American glass canning jars with metal lids as I can’t obtain an onggi.

More comments to read! Jump to page: 1 2

Leave a Reply

You must create a profile and be logged in to post a comment.