Day 281: Daikon & Pepper Salad ♥

Today's winter vegetable salad: A quick mix of crisp, wet daikon and bell pepper. Very pretty color, yes?! Weight Watchers Friendly, however you count points. Low Cal. Low Carb. Naturally Gluten Free. Paleo. Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

WHAT IS DAIKON? Meet my new favorite vegetable: daikon! Daikon is the ONLY vegetable that starts with the Letter D – who knew? (The Alphabet of Vegetables knew, that's who!) It's also called Japanese radish, Chinese radish, Asian radish and Chinese turnip; also white radish, winter radish, even the "icicle radish". The syllables mean big (dai) and root (kon) in Japanese.

Daikon comes in a huge, white baton-like root. (For pictures, see Wikipedia.) It is sweet and wet and has wonderful tooth-crunch. It lacks the bitter bite of radish and the woodiness of jicama. It peels as easily as a carrot and slices as easily as a cucumber. Daikon would be a terrific addition to crispy vegetable platters or diced/grated into fresh slaws. A whole pound of daikon has only 82 calories. It's also low-carb, low-calorie and low-cholesterol. Daikon is GREAT!

I tend to forget about vegetable salads during the winter. My mistake! This simple daikon-pepper-watercress combination tasted so fresh and alive. It was both filling and nutritious.

RECIPE for DAIKON & PEPPER SALAD

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes
Serves 4

8 ounces daikon
1 red pepper, diced
4 tablespoons chopped watercress or fresh herbs such as parsley or cilantro
1-1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
Salt to taste

Peel the daikon, then cut in thin rounds. Stack three or four rounds, then cut into matchsticks. Combine daikon, red pepper and greens in a bowl. Sprinkle with vinegar, olive oil and a touch of salt. Toss to combine.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
CHANGES FROM THE INSPIRING RECIPE I completely changed the proportions of this salad. To my taste, it's just right. The inspiring recipe called for two bell peppers, a whole 12 cups of watercress (whoah, that'd be a LOT of watercress) and 4 tablespoons of olive oil.
NO WATERCRESS? It's kinda hard to find but I do love its peppery bite. Arugula would be a good substitute. But I love this salad with easy-to-find and inexpensive cilantro, parsley would work too.
In 2006, I found daikon matchsticks "fussy-to-cut and fussy-to-eat". In 2015, the matchsticks seemed exactly the right thing! Dicing the daikon would make it more like pico de gallo.

TODAY'S VEGETABLE RECIPE INSPIRATION Adapted from Gourmet, December 1992.

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Serving: 37 Calories; 2g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 13mg Sodium; 5g Carb; 2g Fiber; 3g Sugar; 1g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS: WW Old Points 1 & WW PointsPlus 1 & WW SmartPoints 1 & WW FreeStyle 1 CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving, generous 2 servings.

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QUICK! QUICK! MORE RECIPES WITH THESE INGREDIENTS

daikon

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MORE RECIPES for WINTER SALADS

~ Healthy Red & Green Green-Bean Salad ~
~ Last-Minute Festive Celery & Cauliflower Salad ~
~ Winter Tomato Salad (Quick Pickled Vegetables) ~
~ more daikon recipes ~
~ more salad recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Spinach Salad with Fruity Vinaigrette, Fresh Fruit & Glazed Pecans ~
~ Quick 'n' Easy Raw Salad ~
~ Mexican Fruit Salad with Winter Fruits ~
~ more salad recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

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