Radish "Potatoes"
 

For the last couple of months hubby has been experimenting with cooking radishes as a low carb/keto suitable potato substitute. He's really pleased and happy with the results, I'm a little less enthusiastic but not unhappy.

Last night we tried something a little different, I did go to my local market to stock up for the next week of lock down and picked up a medium daikon radish which I peeled and then sliced into rounds and cooked in the corned beef broth instead of red potatoes. He was pleased with the results and noted that although they were indeed cooked soft, apparently radishes don't "mash" well but he wanted cubes with corned beef anyway. And he says that yes, he would like it next time too.

He's taken regular radishes and cooked them in various ways, including the microwave and diced with a sort of vegetable hash.

Any of you others have cooked radish hints? This was a new one on me!

We've tried celery root as a potato substitute with good results. I'd be interested in trying the daikon and/or other radishes, too. Thanks for sharing this idea.

Can't take credit for it DJ, hubby found it in his keto ramblings. We've also baked them in the oven and the grill. Here's a basic printed recipe:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/23...sted-radishes/

As I say, he's keto and has lost a ton of weight! I'm just low carb and still struggle, but he's very happy being a carnivore and me not so much. I still like to have a potato here or there so I just buy one or two single red potatoes. For me the potato is the point and no a radish is something but not a potato.

When you bake them the natural sugars and stuff react and you don't get the amount of taste you would think, and with some fat and seasonings (olive oil, bacon fat, butter), some of the things we've tried they can be pretty darn good but I'd never heard of it until maybe 6 months ago.

I hear radishes are a new “super food”. DH says he doesn’t like but I enjoy sliced in a salad. BTW I’ve noticed him eating them with ranch dressing as a dip. I plant them but some get woody or strong when weather gets warm.

Tartan - I love radish sandwiches in the summer too! So glad its not just me.

I don't know about radishes but I've made cauliflower "mashed potatoes" and it was very good, even my husband said so, and he doesn't like cauliflower.

We use a lot of cauliflower too! Is nice that you can get pre-grated/shredded fresh or frozen now. One thing I'm amazed at is how far little crumbs can jump when chopping or grating yourself.

Less chopping and good on the grill are cauliflower "Steaks" from the middle cut in half and then take one thick center slice off each side. The rest we usually chop up. You can oil and season the "steak: any way you want, but turmeric is often used. Can be grilled over charcoal.

Is funny that by going Keto, my hubby now eats more of the Vegan dishes I make for my son and DDiL.

Cauliflower used in place of potatoes for soup are also delicious.

I was wondering if anyone had used regular red radishes? DH always wants to plant them but I always say, no, because they are so prolific and there's no way to save them. That would be awesome if they could be cooked like cauliflower. Anyone heard of it?

Hubby first started his cooked radishes with the red ones. Most of the recipes like the one I linked are done with large red radishes.

As I said, the cooking process takes away a lot of the expected flavor -- some people complain that they are too bland.

I haven't tried them whole in soup yet, still a little leery of any excessive cast off radish flavor.

I have seen posts from people happy to have another use for their radishes, and that the cooked radishes can then be frozen. I haven't specifically looked for anyone who is freezing fresh radishes for cooking later, but there most be some body!

Radish Cooking Report Part 2:

Made another corned beef last night, hubby asked where's the radish? Oops -- so just did another batch. It took about 30 minutes for the "potato" sized chunks of daikon to cook. I'd say the root was 3-4" in diameter, I cut it in 1" slices then into fourths.

I'd say that the radish sucks up the salt from the corned beef cooking liquid even more than potatoes! Hubby will like them, a bit too much salt for me, but otherwise the flavor was bland and not radish-y.

I also tried two "hash" tests, I cut quite a bit into half inch cubes and split them into two batches. One I par cooked first for about 10-15 minutes (again using the corned beef broth because it was handy), the other I tried raw. Because of the low starch/sugar I couldn't get either of them to brown even with a high heat and a lot of oil, but the texture and taste were fine on the pre-cooked ones. Again, they soak up flavor well, I had some Montreal Seasoning in the mix.

The raw ones I got a bit distracted by my sewing and burned to a nasty crisp on the one side, while still being defiantly crispy raw on the other! Note to self: You are not so good at multi-tasking with a hot burner in the mix... I think it would be easier to just cube and precook than attempt doing them raw again, but I'm sure the hubby will do a try from fresh.

Oh I like a bread, butter, and sliced radish sandwich. A few weeks ago I mentioned this to my husband and he had never heard of it!