Glazed radishes
a sweet and sour treat
This recipe is one of my favorite ways to eat radishes now and works well for people who do not like raw radishes, as the flavor of the radishes changes a great deal in this cooking process. They will lose all (or nearly all) of their spiciness and become tender, juicy, and mild. Depending on what color of radish you use, they may also take on a very bright and appealing color.
This recipe also works with spring turnips (and maybe with winter ones, though I haven’t tried it). If you don’t have a full pound of radishes or turnips, you can add other root vegetables such as carrots.
Glazed radishes
1 pound radishes, trimmed
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar (I prefer rice or apple cider vinegar, but any plain distilled vinegar is totally fine)
1 teaspoon salt OR 1 tablespoon soy sauce (the soy sauce will change the color)
1 1/2 cups water
A little ginger is nice here, too, especially if you use soy sauce instead of salt, and especially with the turnips, although it’s good with radishes, too. I haven’t measured how much ginger, sorry, but I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/2-1 teaspoon. You would go ahead and add this with the rest of the ingredients.
Cut large radishes in half; leave small ones whole. If you’re using turnips or carrots, cut them to be about the same size as a small radish or half a normal radish. The important thing is surface area, more so than shape, so it’s ok if they’re not radish shaped.
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan or a skillet you can cover. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a simmer.
Keeping the cover on, let simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and continue cooking another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced to a glaze and the radishes are tender through. Radishes (more so than turnips) can take a while to become fully tender and let the flavor of the glaze penetrate all the way through, so don’t try to rush this if it seems like an overly long cooking time to you. This isn’t a case where you want them to remain crisp inside; you want them fully tender.
