For a light and refreshing healthy side dish, try this Daikon and Cucumber Salad with Shio Koji. A natural seasoning made with malted rice, salt & water, shio koji enhances the umami flavor of this simple salad.
To continue with a light and healthy recipe theme for the new year, I want to share this Daikon and Cucumber Salad (大根ときゅうりの塩麹和え) recipe today.
This refreshing and crunchy salad is perfect for cleansing your palate between dishes. I also love making this salad during summer time as it beautifully complements many Japanese grilled dishes. Think yakitori or BBQ chicken wings!
The magic condiment I’ve used today is Shio Koji (塩麴), which brings out a nice umami flavor of the dishes. A century-old ingredient used in Japan to make soy sauce, sake, and miso, Shio Koji is now a favorite seasoning for marinades, salad dressings, and pickles.
When used as a salad dressing, the end result is a crisp Daikon and Cucumber Salad with a nice balance of salty-vinegary sweet flavors. To get the Daikon & Cucumber Salad with Shio Koji recipe, click here over at Hikari Miso’s website. Hikari Miso products are available in Japanese grocery stores and Amazon.
Itadakimasu!
Enjoy this quick salad on a hot summer day. Serve it with grilled dishes!
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
Daikon and Cucumber Salad with Shio Koji
Ingredients
- ½ lb daikon radish (peeled)
- 2 Japanese or Persian cucumbers (or use ½ English cucumber but seeds must be removed)
- ¼ cup carrots (julienned)
- 2 Tbsp shio koji (I used Hikari Miso Shio Koji; you can substitute with 2 tsp kosher salt, but will lack in umami)
- ½ Tbsp rice vinegar (unseasoned)
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 red chili (chopped, if you prefer less spicy remove the seed)
Instructions
- Cut daikon and cucumber diagonally while rotating them a quarter between cuts. This Japanese cutting technique is called “Rangiri.”
- Put daikon, cucumber, carrot, and all the seasonings in a large closable plastic bag.
- Remove the air from the bag and massage the vegetables and make sure they are blended well with the seasonings. Keep the bag in the refrigerator for 45-60 minutes for best flavor.
- Serve this dish cold or at room temperature.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
Hi! I have recently seen Liquid Shio Koji in our local Japanese store. Wondering if you have ever tried? I love and make tsukemono of all kinds and wondering if I can add or use the liquid version particularly on any type of quick pickles like cucumber tsukemono?
Hi Ken! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
Yes! You can use the liquid Shio Koji for this recipe and other pickles.
Here is the one with Daikon, but you can do the same for cucumber.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pickled-daikon-with-shio-koji/
We hope this helps!
[…] Daikon and Cucumber Salad […]
I like this recipe because it’s easy and I needed a way to use up my daikon. Since I did not have any shio koji, I used kosher salt. However, I misread the tsp as tbsp and it was sooo salty! lol Next time, I will make sure I use less salt. I did rinse off the veggies, but they soaked up a lot of salt. It did go well with the keema curry, though.
Hi Diane! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! Oh no, 2 Tbsp is a lot. 😀 I always wonder, I hope Tbsp and tsp are easy to understand… spell out is better? Japanese ingredient names are long, so I try to use abbreviation to make it shorter (so it’s not too wordy)…
Really good dish! So easy to make and such complex and refined flavors. Always nice to have something fresh on the side, and this pairs with a lot of dishes.
I know it is not your own recipe, so thank you for posting it anyway.
Hi Ina! Yes, you’re right! I always enjoy side dishes like this too. Thank you for your kind words! Thi is my recipe but I made it for the Hikari Miso website. 🙂
Hi, Nami. I’ve been playing around with shio koji once I finally found it at my local Asian market! I’ve used it on meats, fish. Currently doing a ika no shiokara where the squid and liver (separately) were marinated in shio koji. Now I’ve got the squid flesh with some liver going. Trying to see how the enzymes from the digestive gland and shio koji work together. I used a very large squid with a HUGE digestive gland. The rest of the liver was cooked up in the shio koji and is delicious with that bitterness.
I did some cucumbers with the shio koji and they stayed very crisp even after 10 days!
I can’t find any research on this but I used the shio koji (with live A. oryzae) to make more more. I used haiga mai rice cooked with salt. Added shio koji to cooled rice and a bit of water. 24 hours later I had rice growing off-white mold with a hint of alcohol. Kind of like sake but with salt. You know how homemade yogurt can be started with store-bought live yogurt? That’s what I was thinking. I also have some organic soybeans fermenting with shio koji. I like playing with fermentation, also make wine, etc.
Hi Chieko! WOW!!!! You’re like my brother who loves fermentation! I’m not too familiar with it actually, and I haven’t had the time to study even though I’m curious and would love to try. You truly inspired me! My mother makes yogurt at home and I am thinking of making it at home too… I want to try your shio kara… must be so good with rice!
The jumbo squid shiokara didn’t come out like the way I wanted. I actually prefer using squid with 4-6 inch tubes. However, the squid, after marinating in the shio koji, then salted, was very good in a quick stir fry. Really tender. The shio koji did its job! I made 2 lbs worth of shiokara with the small squid. I love that stuff! Also making some daikon pickle that marinated in shio koji for 2 days and now is in a brine with some Thai chile. Tasting good already. But wait…also have a batch of green papaya kimchi bubbling away! I love fermentation!
You’re amazing!!!! Maybe it’s time for you to start blogging about your fermentation journey. 😉
Hi Nami,
I was intrigued by your recipe for shio koji, and bought the rice koji when I happened to see it at a Japanese grocery store. Then it sat in my refrigerator for months until I finally got around to making the shio koji this month. I live in Monterey, which you know is pretty cool most of the time. It has been over two weeks now, and it is still pretty salty. Can you give me more information about how it should look, taste, smell when it is ready to be refrigerated? I’m hoping to make the daikon cucumber salad soon.
Glad you are safely back from your trip to Japan.
Hi Eileen! It’s slightly different on the brand and kind of dried shio koji we use and how much water you’ve been adding etc. The rice should be soft after 2 weeks, should be mild and fermented smell and looks like porridge? It takes a longer time to ferment in winter so yours may be taking a bit time? When fermentation is slow, you can add a little bit more water. Some website suggests to use warm water too. Hope this helps!
What is a good subsitute for Hikari Miso Shio Koji?
Hi lele!
If you can find other brands of shio koji in a Japanese market, you can use it. Or if you can find koji (which is sometimes easier to find than shio koji), you can make your own. See the recipe link and video in the post. 🙂
home made shio koji? I’m interested!
If you can find koji, I hope you give it a try. Shio Koji is really an amazing condiment and I hope this will become next popular Japanese ingredient like miso… which will be common everywhere in the world. 🙂