Simmered Squid and Daikon

Simmered squid and daikon is a great first dish for cooks new to squid. The best part of this dish is how tender the squid is. The hardest part of making this dish was cleaning the squid. If buying your squid from a good fishmonger you can ask them to clean it for you.


400 grams daikon
1 surumeika
20 grams ginger, cut into thick slices
vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups dashi
1/4 cup sake
2 Tbsp. mirin
1 Tbsp. sugar

Peel the daikon and cut into large chunks.

Clean the squid. Remove the head from the body. Remove the innards from the squid body and discard. (In our house, if the squid is fresh, Shinji keeps the liver, slices it, and eats it with soy sauce. I'll take a small bite but am not a big fan unless I've had some sake or shochu to warm me up to the idea.)

Carefully clean the legs and be sure to scrub carefully to remove the hard bits on the tentacles. Cut the legs just below the eye and be sure to remove the squid's beak or mouth. Separate the legs by cutting the meat.

For the body, be sure to remove the cartilage inside and carefully rinse the squid. Slice into rings.

In a pot saute the ginger in some vegetable oil for a minute. Add the daikon and squid and saute.

Add to the pot the dashi, sake, mirin, and sugar.

Simmer for 15 minutes or until the daikon is tender. Ideally with an otoshibuta (drop lid) or paper lid. Alternatively, a lid.

Garnish with julienned yuzu and shichimi togarashi (both optional).