Soy Sauce Flavored Pickled Vegetables ~ Better than Braised Pork

Prepare the ingredients. Garlic is included, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

My radishes were homegrown by my mom and pickled with coarse sea salt. They need to be soaked in water to remove the salt.

Once cleaned, start slicing them into strips.

Such a big bowl of sliced radish strips! My wrists got tired from all the slicing.

Once all are sliced, start washing until there's no salt taste left.

The water is clear now, and I tasted it; no saltiness remains.

The next step is critical! Squeeze out all the water from the pickled radish strips. The drier, the better. I used a vegetable press. 'Extract flavor where there is flavor, infuse flavor where there isn't!' That's the soul of this dish.

This is how dry they should look.

Heat a pot and add plenty of oil. First, fry the wet ingredients: green onions, ginger, and garlic. Then add the dry ingredients: star anise, cinnamon stick, and chili peppers. Sauté on low heat carefully without burning.

Once the seasoning releases its aroma, add the pickled radish strips, making sure they are evenly coated in oil. Stir-fry on low heat for about a minute.

Add sugar and dark soy sauce. For this batch of pickled radish, I added three spoonfuls of sugar. Adjust the dark soy sauce based on the batch size. No additional salt is needed, as the soy sauce already provides enough saltiness. Add soy sauce until the desired color and taste are achieved. Taste and adjust as needed.

Once the flavors are balanced, stir-fry on high heat to reduce the liquid. Cook for about three minutes before transferring to a heatproof dish.

Cover with plastic wrap. Heat water in a pot, then steam the dish for 30 minutes.

The dish is bright and enticing once it's out of the steamer.

I feel that the camera doesn't do its appeal justice.

My husband used an electric griddle to toast a bun (which was previously steamed and stored in the freezer), then filled it with the radish strips as a sandwich.

Doesn't it look enticing?

Plate the dish. Keep any leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

You can also add toasted sesame seeds when eating or use it as a filling for wraps.