Daikon "steak" with balsamic vinegar reduction 大根のステーキ

This is a very interesting dish. This may be the best way to introduce "daikon" to the uninitiated. I had a daikon I bought sometime ago sitting in the refrigerator. I wanted to use it before it went bad. I decided to explore something I have not tried. I came across this dish in e-recipe. I deviated very slightly from the original recipe, although this was the first time for me to make this dish (my instinct makes me change the recipe on the fly).

Daikon: I first cut about 1 inch thick rounds (two) and peeled the skin. I precooked the daikon in water with a pinch of raw rice for 30 minutes. After it was cooked, I washed it in cold running water. I kept this cooked daikon in a container in a refrigerator for later use.

Several days later on a weekday evening, I decided to finish this dish. (Since this dish turned out to be very good, I made it again several evenings later, see #4 in the image below). I decided the rounds of daikon might be a bit too thick and sliced each round into two 1/2 inch thick rounds. I simply fried the daikon rounds in a flying pan on medium flame with light olive oil (1 tbs) for 2-3 minutes on each side until both sides were nicely brown (#1 in the image below).

Sauce: After I removed the daikon from the pan, I added balsamic vinegar (5 tbs) and let it reduce in half (#2). Instead of sugar or honey (as suggested in the original recipe), I added mirin (2 tbs or, as in my steak sauce, I could have added port wine here), soy sauce (2 tbs) and let it reduce further. When the bottom of the pan was just covered with liquid and the sauce was getting somewhat viscous, I added pats of butter (2 tsp or whatever amount) and finished the sauce (#3). This is the next evening when I served the same dish with drunken Camapari tomato and brocollini (#4).

My wife got these funky triangular plates sometime ago and I decided to use it for this dish (2nd image above). I garnished the daikon with chopped parsley with an accompaniment of Campari tomatoes and baby arugula. This is a very good dish. Not quite steak but it has a similar consistency and the sauce went very well with it. This arugula had a very strong peppery taste complimenting the dish. The wine we had with this is not outstanding but OK California Malbec, 2007 Dry Creek which went very well with this daikon steak. Very good and interesting fusion dish.