Daikon

The Asian food kick continues. A trip to Superstore led to a fridge full of gai lan (what I would do for organic gai lan, sigh..) and many delicious meals. I also picked up some daikon, which became daikon kimchi and Dubu Mu Jorim (tofu and daikon in soy sauce). I hadn't had the tofu dish since I was living overseas and it was as good as I remember. Daikon is really nice cooked, it feels like comfort food. I don't think I've ever seen it in a cooked dish in Canada.

Korean Tofu and Daikon

1/4 lb. white radish, cut in 1 inch x 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup dried sliced shitake mushrooms (easy to find and well priced at Asian grocery stores)
4 oz. firm tofu, cut in 1 inch x 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup water
2 T soy sauce
1 T honey
1 T. Korean red pepper paste (gochuchang).

Soak the mushrooms in boiling water. Place the radish and water in a pot, season with soy sauce, and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. Add the drained mushrooms, red pepper paste, tofu and honey and simmer for 5 more minutes.

The spring tonic adventures continue as well. I went to a really interesting weekend workshop with Daniel Vitalis on wild nutrition, and he taught us how to make drinks and tinctures from wild plants. We also went out to the mountains to drink mineral water from the springs around Banff. I learned that the idea of water being 'sweet' comes from mineral water that's high in calcium. We also tried sulfurous water which can be used medicinally as it is acidic and stimulating. I didn't know until this weekend that the water coming up out of a spring is often 10,000 years old or older.