Cabbage, watermelon radish and bitter orange salad

I couldn't resist marmalade orange season. But since I still have several jars of last year's marmalade in my preserve stash, I am trying to resist actually making marmalade. Instead, I thought I'd see what else I could come up with using bitter / Seville / marmalade oranges. We are out of lemons, so the idea of using bitter orange in salad instead seemed an interesting one. I was just reading about some Japanese citrus the other day - there's so many other kinds of citrus out there beyond lemon, lime, orange and even grapefruit. I knew yuzu, but there are all these other ones I'd never even heard of too. Anyway, I'd never used marmalade oranges for anything other than marmalade, so here's a starter foray into the world of alternative citrus.

1/3 of a small white cabbage, shredded
2 small watermelon radishes, peeled and finely sliced (or cut into matchsticks)
1/4 cup golden raisins
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
juice (and a little bit of zest) of half a bitter / Seville orange
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp white miso
pepper and salt

Put the prepared cabbage, watermelon radish, raisins, sesame seeds and coriander in a bowl. Put the orange juice and zest in a separate, small bowl, add the olive oil, miso and seasoning and check it tastes good. Just before serving tip the dressing over the salad and toss.

Sprout, watermelon radish and orange salad

An unusually bright, crisp and cheerful winter salad, inspired by the contents of the CSA.

1 punnet mixed salad sprouts
1 medium watermelon radish, peeled, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 large orange, pith and peel removed from the outside
1 tbsp white miso
1-2 tsp marmalade
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt+pepper

Put sprouts in a salad bowl. Slice the radish (it's so pretty!) and add to the bowl. Cut off as much peel and pith from the outside of the orange as you can, then cut out the segments, leaving behind the separating membranes. Add the orange segments to the bowl. Squeeze the juice out of the remaining orange into a small bowl, then add the remaining ingredients and whisk with a fork. Add the dressing to the bowl and toss. Eat right away.

Radish relish (and radish pickles)

Came by lots of watermelon radishes. The words 'radish' and 'relish' seemed to fit together so beautifully I had to make it happen. This also turned into an experiment in canning processing - can I can using my basic kitchen equipment?


Radish Relish 
(based on this recipe)

1 lb (2 medium sized) watermelon radishes, peeled and shredded*
1 medium onion, diced
2 inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup coconut vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp red Hawaiian salt
1/2 tbsp coriander seed
1/2 tbsp yellow mustard seed
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
1/4 tsp white peppercorns

Combine vinegar, sugar, salt and spices in a large pan and bring to the boil. Add the radishes, onion, ginger and garlic. Bring back to a simmer, stirring until heated through. Remove from the heat.

Spoon relish into sterile jars, leaving ~0.5cm space at the top and poking down with a clean knife to remove bubbles.  Put lids on cleanly and tight. For canning process, you need a large, tall pan with enough space to place a holder in it so that the jars don't touch the bottom of the pan, and still have space for 1-2 inches of water on top of the jars resting on the holder. My tallest pan combined with a metal steamer rose and squat jars allowed me enough space to process two ~400ml jars. Fill the pan (with the steamer in it) with water and bring to the boil. Carefully place the jars in it, bring the water to the right height and bring back to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes (covered if possible). Remove jars carefully and allow to return to room temperature. The button on the lid should pop down if a seal has been made successfully.


Radish Pickles
(based on this recipe)

2 medium sized watermelon radishes, chopped into thickish slices 1-2 in diameter*
1 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp crushed peppercorns
½ tsp brown mustard seed
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced longitudinally
1 small green chilli, halved longitudinally

Bring the water, vinegar, salt, and sugar or honey to a boil in a medium saucepan and simmer until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Remove from heat and add the peppercorns, mustard seed, garlic and chilli. Pack the radishes in two sterile ~500g jars and pour the hot liquid over them, dividing the garlic and chilli between the jars. Put the lids on and let cool to room temperature, checking if the button on top has popped down - if it has they are sealed. They should be ready to eat after 24 hours. Whether or not they have sealed, it is probably wise to keep them in the fridge.

*could use red radishes (no need to peel then) or daikon instead


One sad thing is that the colour all leaches out of the radishes. It remains in the liquid, so there is still prettiness, but you do lose the breathtaking beauty of the freshly sliced watermelon radish. They are a lovely pink, but I don't love them. I prefer the sweeter radish relish (also prettier due to the shreds), but think the white pepper was a mistake - it smells weird. I'm trying really hard to like it as it was hand delivered to me all the way from Borneo though, so I can deal. The other one smells weird too - just a vegetably, radishy smell, but strangely offputting (I notice a similar smell from prepared horseradish, there must be some chemical reaction happening...).


Notes on water bath processing:

As far as I understand, the aim of water bath processing is to create a seal. This is particularly important when you are jarring up something that is high in neither sugar nor vinegar. So I am a little unsure about whether it is really necessary for something like this relish, which is high in both sugar and vinegar. Also, since putting hot stuff in hot sterile jars usually gives me a good seal anyway (button on lid pops down), I do wonder whether the water bath processing is needed for this or not. Plus, if the stuff has gone off it should be obvious? However, botulism is nasty, and I wouldn't want to get it or cause it. So I am still trying to figure out when water bath processing is necessary (and what for).

My pan+steamer system worked fine, but I can only process squat jars (or jars laid on their side) in the water bath as my pan isn't very tall. I could in theory process a whole lot, although only 1-2 at a time. To be really efficient about this I would need a taller pan (perhaps one day I will buy myself a proper preserving pan) and some accoutrements (tongs, rack etc). But for now I am happy to have worked out a system using regular kitchen equipment.

Winter Salad II: watermelon radish, edamame, avocado and quinoa

A handed me some CSA veg in a hurry yesterday - I saw these and said 'turnips?' and he replied 'they said watermelon turnips, I don't know what's different about them'. I googled quickly and found they were watermelon radishes, a special variant of daikon. I kind of wished I hadn't peeked, because it would have been a wonderful surprise to cut into one of these unawares... They looked like muddy turnips on the outside, but inside they are a spectacular hot pink with slight rays of white. I can definitely see where the watermelon in the name comes from now!

(nb I think the quinoa, edamame and avocado suggested themselves because of the stories in the news about ingredient origins and S+I having a long ongoing conversation about the ethics of buying things from far-flung places... I guess it made me want to eat them (and we had them all in the house anyway, would be the most unethical thing of all to waste them, right?).)

1 medium watermelon radish
~3/4 cup frozen shelled edamame, defrosted
1/2 an avocado, peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 cup quinoa, cooked til tender, drained and cooled
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Peel the radish and shave it into thin slices using a peeler or a mandoline. Put in a serving bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, toss, taste for seasoning and eat.


Also really good, I was on my salad making game last night. I realised when eating it, it's quite reminiscent of this one. Got beetroot to eat up too, perhaps that's on the cards soon...  Only problem with this type of salad is that making thin slices of beetroot or radish is somewhat time-consuming / a pain (sometimes literally).