Braised Carrot and Daikon with Chicken

Brimming with Asian fusion flavors, this braised vegetable and chicken dish certainly warms things up on a cold winter's day. I was looking for a hearty stew-like dish to accompany some cooked barley and bulgar wheat. While foraging around in my fridge I found some boneless skinless chicken breast, carrots and a big fresh daikon radish. Sweet vegetables require a savory, sweet and flavorful sauce. I knew I wanted to do a braise and let the root vegetables get nice and tender sweet. The only question that remained was how to season the dish.

I opened up my cupboard of Asian goods and found some of this fish flavored dashi powder. This is like Korean bullion but made with fish, not beef or chicken. That provided a nice undercurrent of flavor.

I also spied my bag of dried Chinese goji berries. These would make a nice addition to the dish as they would provide a bit of fruity sweetness to go along with the carrots. And I love the color.

I started with the dashi powder and goji berries in a large pan.

I cut some carrots and daikon into large cubes.

These were added to the pan with some water, mirin and soy sauce. This was cooked, covered, for about 20 minutes until the liquid reduced down and the vegetables were beginning to brown and caramelize.

I added some water back ot the pan to make a sauce and threw in some cubed chicken. This was covered and cooked for about 10 minutes until the chicken was cooked through and all the flavors were married together.