Kaiware daikon / daikon radish sprouts

貝割れ大根
(かいわれだいこん)

A standard sprout in Japan that comes with crispy stems and a pungent taste, which naturally remind of  fresh daikon radish. It makes a great garnish for any dish, including steaks, grilled fish, hiyayakko chilled tofu, fried or grilled tofu, sashimi, miso soup and nimono simmered dishes, and works really well in temakizushi hand-rolled sushi, sandwiches, salads, sunomono with rice vinegar dressing, gomaae with sesame dressing ... the list is endless.

"Kaiware" literally means "open shell," implying the cotyledon (first set of leaves, often in heart or shell shape). The word technically refers to most young sprouts (including broccoli and buckwheat) with that shape of cotyledon. However, kaiware is usually used as a shortened name for kaiware daikon, probably because it was the first vegetable sprout to become popular nationwide in Japan. In the old days, it was grown in sand beds and was mainly used at upscale restaurants. Hydroponic commercial production started in the 1960s in Fukuoka Prefecture in southern Japan. By the 80s, kaiware daikon was widely available for families all over Japan, and that was when I was introduced to this little vegetable. I had long thought kaiware daikon was a modern vegetable, but it was mentioned as "osai" in Wamyorui Jusho, a 10th-century dictionary, and also as "sawayake" in Utsuho Monogatari, a 10th-11th century storybook.

The most common type has light green leaves and silver white stems, as shown in the center of the top photo. There are several leaf and stem color variations, and some taste spicier than others (above, the purple leaf type is the spiciest). The kaiware in the photo are shorter than what you find in stores, as I grow them in sunny spots. When grown in a dark room, they grow taller (and are then moved to a sunny spot to make leaves greener).

Kaiware daikon shares nutritional characteristics with daikon radish, including diastase (amylase) and oxidase digestive digestive enzymes and Vitamin C (47 mg/100 g ... higher content than daikon root).

21 kcal/100 g; 93.4% water, 2.1% protein, 0.5% fat, 3.3% carbohydrate, 0.6% ash


Recipes with kaiware daikon

• Renkon no ebi-hasami-yaki, gin-an-gake / sauteed lotus root with shrimp, with pale thickened dashi sauce
  
• Miso yasai raamen / vegetable ramen noodles with miso-flavored soup
• Kuzukiri to daikon, kani no sarada / kudzu arrowroot starch noodle, daikon radish and crabmeat salad, with citrus-flavored soy sauce dressing
  
• Nasu no hisui somen / eggplant jade noodles
• Hiyayakko / chilled soft tofu with condiments

Try kaiware daikon in the following recipes

• Koyadofu no ageyaki to renkon no horenso-an / fried freeze-dried tofu and lotus root with spinach dashi sauce
• Kuzushi-dofu no yakumi sarada / tofu salad with condiments
• Yakinasu, atsuage to ebi no raisunuudoru sarada / rice noodles with grilled eggplant, deep-fried tofu and shrimp salad
  
• Kabocha-dofu no akadashi / Japanese pumpkin tofu with red miso soup
• Tosho chaamen / dao xiao chao mian / fried hand-shaven noodles
  
• Suigyoza no chige-fu nabe / jjigae-style hotpot with shui jiao dumplings
  
• Tonyu miso nikomi udon / hot-pot udon wheat noodles in red miso and soy milk broth 
• Shungiku to ringo no mizore-ae / garland chrysanthemum and apple with grated daikon radish and sweetened vinegar 
• Atsuage to mizuna no ponzujoyu-ni / deep-fried tofu and mizuna simmered in citrus soy sauce
• Koyadofu to saishin no nibitashi / freeze-dried tofu and yu choy sum simmered in broth
  
• Tamago fuwafuwa / steamed egg soufle over broth
• Yakinasu-iri nyumen / warm somen noodles and grilled eggplant in broth
• Petoraaru karei no kankoku-fu pirikara-ni / braised petrale sole in mildly spicy sauce, Korean style 
• Kinshi uri no tosazu-ae / spaghetti squash in bonito flake infused sweetened rice vinegar dressing
• Soba to warabi no ponzu sarada / buckwheat noodle and bracken salad with citrus soy sauce
• Nagaimo no mentai poteto sarada / Chinese yam salad with spicy salted pollock roe
• Konsai no sakekasu misoshiru / miso soup with root vegetables and sake lees
• Sakana no karashiage to kinsai, mizuna, radisshu no aemono / karashi mustard-flavored deep-fried fish and Chinese celery, mizuna and radish 
• Somen / plain cold somen noodles with dipping sauce
• Hiyashi kakeudon / cold udon noodles in soup
• Kiriboshi-daikon to mizuna, kani no sarada / dried daikon salad with mizuna and crab
• Unagi no yanagawa-fu donburi / grilled eel with gobo burdock root and egg on rice, with sansho leaves

(Last updated: January 9, 2019)