Kilawing Labanos (Daikon Radish)

Posted byNoriePosted inRecipe, Salad, Side dishes, VegetablesTags:,
Kilawing Labanos – Daikon radish

My daughter Carie likes this dish and she used to ask her paternal grandmother to cook it for her instead of me because they use pork spleen that I don’t use or eat.  I think it is called “lapay” in Filipino.  Carie loves liver also, so that would explain why she likes it with spleen.

The traditional recipe for this dish is with cubed pork and peeled shrimp with shrimp juice.  Substitute spleen or liver for the pork if that is what you want to use.  The same ingredients are used as the above but cook the pork with a little water then let the fat render and use that fat to sauté the vegetables. 

This is a small batch, using half of a daikon radish, about 8 to 10 inches long, 1 ½” to 2” diameter.

Peel the radish with a potato peeler and quarter it lengthwise. Slice the two fourths together thinly as wedges to look like the ones in the picture.  This will be about 3 to 4 cups of cut radish. Place in a bowl, sprinkle some salt and mix them up.  Let stand for about 30 minutes or so then rinse and drain.  This process is to get some of the radish bitterness out but not necessary. 

The ingredients for this dish are:

  • Sliced Daikon radish, 3 to 4 cups
  • 1 large clove garlic, crushed and minced
  • About 2 TBS minced onion
  • About 2TBS diced tomato (or one small Roma tomato)
  • 1 cube shrimp bouillon
  • 1 TBS vinegar
  • ½ tsp Black pepper
  • ¼ tsp sugar
  • ¼ c water
  • 1 TBS oil

Follow the basic method of sautéing the garlic, onions and tomatoes.  Add the shrimp bouillon cube, add the ¼ cup water and crush the bouillon while stirring.  Add the vinegar, add the radish and the ¼ tsp. sugar and black pepper.  Mix a few times, cover and simmer for a few minutes until radishes are crisp tender.  Add more salt if needed. 

You can add shelled shrimp if you prefer it with shrimp. Add them after sauteing the garlic, onions and tomatoes.

If using spleen, sauté the garlic, onion and tomato as above then add the diced meat. Cook the meat with it then add the rest, mix then simmer as above until done.

For a larger batch, double the ingredients.