The hua chai thao, or Chinese radish, is both cheap and easy to store. There's no need to worry about it going bad if you keep it in the refrigerator for a while, and it is a good friend to have at hand when you are having a hard time deciding what to cook. A Chinese radish in the refrigerator offers many tasty possibilities. You might cut it into long slivers and fry them with egg, stew them with ground pork and soy sauce to make a soup, or slice the vegetable and boil it to serve with nam phrik.
Although it looks ordinary and unremarkable, the hua chai thao has a very long culinary history. It is a member of the radish family, different forms of which are found worldwide, differing in size and colour. Agricultural historians have not been able to determine where radishes were first eaten, but do know that the small, round red-coloured type widely eaten in Europe and the Americas was recruited from the wild around the third century AD, and the long, plump white type has long been known in India, China and Southeast Asia.
The Chinese radish has a flavour and aroma all its own. Many people like its taste, but not its smell. One way to avoid the smell is to boil it before eating. Those who have no problem with the smell may prefer it raw, however. Interestingly, although most people in India do not like to eat raw vegetables, they do combine raw Chinese radish with shallots and chillies to eat with strongly seasoned curries. In China, the vegetable is only eaten cooked.
As the Chinese radish established itself in different Asian countries, it was adapted to the point that it became an ingredient in some national dishes. Japan seems to be the country that has made the greatest use of it. It is eaten there both raw and cooked. To make one dish, the head of a sea bass is cooked in Japanese soy sauce with Chinese radish cut into long slivers and sliced carrots. It can be mixed with roasted white sesame seeds and sprinkled on top of Japanese rice or rice with Japanese curry.
There is also crunchy, yellow pickled Chinese radish, a condiment eaten with various dishes or cut into thin strands to be eaten together with wasabi as an accompaniment to raw fish dishes.
Vietnamese cooks stew sliced Chinese radish with pork bones to make soup, and mix fine strands of it into dipping sauce to accompany certain dishes. In Cambodia, the vegetable is eaten raw with nam phrik plaa raa, a chilli sauce made with fermented fish.
Although it isn't known exactly when and how the Chinese radish first appeared in Thailand, it is believed that it was probably brought by Chinese immigrants. But even though it has been in the country for a long time, the only Thai recipe that makes use of it is kaeng som plaa chon sai hua chai thao (a soup-like curry made with snakehead fish meat). Thais do not eat the radish raw except when finely shredded as a garnish for Japanese raw fish dishes.
Chinese radish is eaten in Thailand primarily as an ingredient in Chinese dishes, but it has been adapted in various was to appeal to the tastes of certain groups of people. It is made into the condiment hua chai po, for example, by salting and drying it. In this form it is available whole, cut into long pieces or coarsely chopped. Most Thais are familiar with it as an ingredient in hua chai po phat khai, where it is cut into long strands and fried with egg and a little sugar to create a sweet-salty dish. Mon cooks in Thailand also mix in a bit of coconut cream to add its rich taste to the blend.
The Chinese community at amphoe Bang Khla in Chachoengsao prepare a local speciality, hua chai thao haeng khem waan (dried salty-sweet Chinese radish) by cutting the vegetable, including the skin, into pieces about three inches long, marinating them in salt for a while, and then sun-drying them for about two days. The local cooks make a broth by adding soy sauce, sugar and three pieces of galangal, bringing it to a boil and putting in the lengths of dried and salted Chinese radish. The radish pieces are left in the broth for three days, then taken out and stored in a jar to eat with rice soup. This condiment is only made at Bang Khla and is rarely seen anywhere else.
Khanom phakkaad is a snack that was once very popular in Bangkok but is much less so now, except for at a few old and well-known restaurants. Originally it was a cheap food that was sold on lanes and side roads by wandering Chinese vendors who offered it from a portable set-up suspended from a plank balanced on the shoulder. It was made by chopping Chinese radish and mixing it with rice flour and a little salt. Some cooks added tiny dried shrimp. The mixture was formed into a thick, round, flat cake and steamed. After it was cooked and had cooled off, it was cut into small strips. When it was sold, the vendor would stir-fry these pieces with sweet black soy sauce and add duck egg, bean sprouts and Chinese chive leaves, then present them to the customer in a dried banana leaf container. It was tasty and cost very little.
As time passed, the wandering Chinese vendors disappeared but shops that sold phat Thai offered khanom phakkaad together with the noodles. The dishes had a lot in common, since both were fried and shared the ingredients of duck egg, bean sprouts and Chinese chive leaves. Some shops also sold fried mussels, making a trio of dishes that were closely related and prepared in a flat pan.
Nowadays the phat Thai and fried mussels are still popular but khanom phakkaad has gradually disappeared from the food scene. Anyone who misses it and craves a plateful can easily cook some up at home, though. There are vendors who sell the steamed cakes of khanom phakkaad on Soi Itsaraphap in the Charoen Krung Road area near Wat Leng Noei Yi, and also at Sam Yan Market. It is simple to satisfy the yearning by buying some and frying it up at home.
Although the Chinese radish costs very little and there is nothing very glamorous about it, it is an essential ingredient in some very tasty dishes. Buy one to keep in the refrigerator, and the day will come when you have the urge to prepare one of the recipes that call for it. Then the true value of this cheap vegetable will shine through.
CROPPING UP: Mon-style Chinese radish fried with egg, and sweet-salty radish from Bang Khla in Chachoengsao are part of Thai cuisine. Photos: Suthon Sukphisit
