Daikon Dumplings
Mandoline
A compact, hand-operated machine with various adjustable blades that creates slice, julienne, shred, crinkle or waffle-cuts. It's used primarily to cut firm vegetables (such as the daikon radishes and zucchini pictured above) with uniformity.
We bought our mandoline three years ago and it took me until just recently to garner the courage to use it. For me , it was an intimating machine, but once I got the hang of it, of course, I wanted to slice everything.
Having said that, it's a sharp piece of equipment and you have to be careful.
I can provide some basics tips on using the mandoline and these in no way supersedes that of the manufacturer's instructions. I would suggest reading their instructions a few times until you feel comfortable.
Mandoline Tips
1. Place a damp towel under the mandoline to provide extra support.
2. Always, always, always use the safety handle.
3. To avoid injury, note where the straight cut blade and fluted blade are located.
4. Do not attempt to slice the last bit of vegetable.
5. To operate, position the vegetable against the safety guard's spikes to hold it in place. Slice the vegetable by moving the guard up and down the mandoline.
6. The position of the stand will be determined by the cuts you wish to make. To control the thickness of the slices, you raise or lower the bearing plate by adjusting the thickness lever. The lower the plate, the thicker the slice.
7. When in doubt, consult the instruction manual.
