The Bavarian Radi is a white radish salad, commonly served in beer gardens in Bavaria, Southern Germany.
Here is how we make this salad at home. This is the shredded version because it's much easier to prepare it from scratch at home.
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TL;DR
The radi salad is a side dish salad that is normally served with other main course meals.
Radi is the Bavarian word for radish, but when you see Radi mentioned anywhere in Bavaria or Austria, it calls for a white elongated radish variety.
This radish variety is also known as beer-radish, Bier-Rettich in German or Bier-Radi in Bavarian and Austrian dialects.
You will find it frequently served finely sliced white radi in beer gardens and beer halls, such as the Hofbräuhaus in Munich, with beer and an obatzda cheese dip.
Typically, the radi salad is sliced, but the shredded version (as in this recipe) is also common.
The Bavarian radi resembles in looks, consistency, juiciness, and flavor the Japanese daikon or Indian white mooli radish.
In fact, my daikon radish salad was inspired by the Bavarian Radi salad.
Ingredients
- White Bavarian Radi Radish — We grow our own, and you can get Radi seeds and grow a batch. As an alternative, you can use daikon/mooli (Indian) Radish. The flavors are similar.
- Vinegar — I like white wine vinegar. Germans also use this or distilled vinegar. Try this recipe with a flavored vinegar, such as raspberry vinegar or herb infused vinegar.
- Salt & Black Pepper, ground
- Oil — Bavarian's like to use canola oil because it grows abundantly in Bavaria. You can use regular vegetable oil too or sunflower oil. Just pick a neutral tasting oil.
- Chives, fresh — to top the salad
How to make it?
You can see here how this salad comes together as an overview. Please watch the how-to video in the recipe card below to help you prepare this dish.
Step 1
Separate radish greens and protruding elongated root parts from the radish. You can use tender radish green in a soup or to make a pesto.
Peel the radish and cut into manageable chunks.
Step 2
Shred radish, either in a food processor or manually with a grater.
Step 3
Prepare the dressing by mixing salt, black pepper and vinegar.
Then pour in oil and mix to a vinaigrette dressing.
Step 4
Place shredded radish in a serving bowl.
Pour dressing over shredded radish and top with fresh chives.
📖 Recipe
Bavarian Radi Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound White Bavarian Radish or Daikon or Mooli Radish
- ⅓ cup Vinegar
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ⅛ Teaspoon Black Pepper ground
- ½ cup Oil
- Chives chopped, fresh to garnish
Instructions
- Prepare your radish. If it is garden fresh organic, cut off the greens and the bottom end. Peel the skin off.1 pound White Bavarian Radish
- If the radish is large, cut into manageable chunks.
- Place radish into a food processor to shred, or use a grater to do that manually.
- Prepare the dressing by combining vinegar, salt and black pepper in a salad shaker or bowl. Then add oil and mix and it all together. You can use a Dijon mustard vinaigrette dressing too instead of this plain vinaigrette dressing.⅓ cup Vinegar, ½ Teaspoon Salt, ⅛ Teaspoon Black Pepper, ½ cup Oil
- Place shredded radish into a serving bowl.
- Sprinkle prepared salad dressing over your shredded radish. Use as much as you like.
- Sprinkle cut chives over the radish and dressing and serve up room temperature or cooled.Chives
Notes
Equipment
- Food Processor or Manual Shredder
Nutrition
Serving
This side dish salad goes with all Bavarian and Austrian main course meals.
It's usually served at room temperature in a cold climate, but I recommend cooling the salad in a hot climate.
That means, you can enjoy it as a side dish with sausages and sauerkraut, with a pork roast with a pan-fried Wiener Schnitzel or an Austrian Beef Goulash.
I, personally, love it with our Tyrolean Gröstl which is pan-fried potatoes with fried eggs in a pan.
Add some ground horseradish to your shredded radi salad for an extra kick.
My mother makes the radi salad on rainy days to accompany a clear spiced soup with dumplings.
Do not limit yourself! This salad serves well with other types of cuisines because of its simple flavor profile. This might be Czech, Slovakian, Polish, but also French and Belgian.
It makes for a decent BBQ side dish salad together with the Bavarian warm potato salad and the Southern German coleslaw.
For the best beer pairing, get Bavarian beer from Andech monastery or a beer from Munich such as HB, Augustiner, Spaten, Paulaner or Löwenbräu.
Storing
Salad leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in your fridge for up to 5 days.
It smells really strong, the shredded radi!
Therefore, I recommend getting quality rectangular glass containers with a rubber seal and good lid. I use the ones from IKEA without fail.
You can meal prep the salad for a cookout or meal in advance.
Either you store the dressing and the shredded radish separately in two containers, before serving and mixing it all together, OR you mix the vinaigrette dressing into the shredded radi and store it that way.
I prefer the later version because the flavors of the dressing get infused into the radish.
You might choose to keep the dressing separate if you care more about crunch and radish freshness levels. If you don't like soaked shredded radish, keep the radish and dressing separate in your fridge.
More side dish salads like this
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