The case of the Bitter Radish~
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- This topic has 9 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 4 months ago by dat_charlottesville.
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- January 17, 2011 at 7:30 pm #49935joeyng89Member
hey everyone here! assuming that everyone is a korean food fan I’m wondering if any of u made Mu Saeng Chae (무생채) before?? Its a type of Banchan available in Maangchi’s recipes too~ I ate it in Korean Restaurants and fell in love with it..I tried making it myself tonight but it didn’t turn out that good..:(
the ones I had is sweet, spicy and very sour..I love sweet and sour food! but my Mu Saeng Chae turned out to be BITTER!! I have no idea why this happened..I used a Daikon radish.. :( any ideas or solutions to this??
THANKS IN ADVANCE KIND SOULS OUT THERE!!
- January 18, 2011 at 11:53 am #54447vb38Member
Fm my experience, I find that local radish (I live in HK), the long white type is usually YUKKY!!! It takes FOREVER to softe,n if it does, that is! And has a strong raw radish taste, no matter how long u hv cooked it and yes, at times, can hv a slight tinge of bitterness. However, local radish in winter, particularly at this time of the year is very good, minus all the unpleasant stuffs mentioned above. When choosing one, find one that is really HEAVY for its size even though u don’t need so much radish since it is quite inexpensive, it really makes all the difference. U can cling wrap whatever u don’t need and store in the refrigerator, it keeps well for a couple of days provided u don’t wash it. The same goes for radish fm Japan.
Korean radish is always good, it softens very fast and is never bitter fm my experience. But they are pretty expensive in HK so I only buy them during the other times of the year.
Good luck!
- January 18, 2011 at 11:56 am #54448vb38Member
Oh, also other than weight, look for those that hv split alittle coz this means that it is super filled with a high water content.
- January 24, 2011 at 3:16 am #54449mokpochicaParticipant
I’ve had a bitter radish too when I made mu saeng chae. I think it was a little dried out, so looking for one with high water content makes sense.
- January 26, 2011 at 8:00 pm #54450joeyng89Member
thanks everyone for the advice :) well my Mu Saeng Chae ended up failing! and i think wat @vb38 say is quite true..the radish I have is exactly like you described! it smells and tasted yucky! :( problem is I don’t see Korean Radish here..not even in huge marts..i ended up putting massive amounts of vinegar, sugar and also chili flakes to forcefully make if taste better..it turned out to be a pickle..well i still could eat it..but not too much though..ended up cooking it in my noodles and it turns out to be lovely.. :p STRANGEEE
- January 27, 2011 at 3:14 am #54451TequilaParticipant
@ joeyng89
ahahahaha…. u simply ‘bantai’, hah? (sorry, I don’t know how to translate this word into English. :(
p.s.
I encountered this bitter taste problem too. So, I tried squeezing out the water from the radish stripes rather than cubes. 1st attempt seemed ok. But it lacks that juiciness from the vegetable. Also another bantai case. hehe…
- January 28, 2011 at 3:39 am #54452vb38Member
Just blame it on the stupid radish! Don’t waste time/effort/money with such inferior product. Totally not worth the heartache!
- January 28, 2011 at 7:47 am #54453
- February 21, 2011 at 9:34 am #54454
- November 22, 2014 at 3:30 pm #57844dat_charlottesvilleParticipant
I’ve always had good luck with local daikon radish in Virginia. A lot of farmers grow it because it is a soil corrector… I believe it helps add nitrogen to the soil but then in the fall lots of the farmers market vendors sell daikon for really cheap ($1-$2 per giant daikon). I buy a bunch to make yellow daikon pickle for kim bap and daikon kimchi.
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