On Food: Kinpira Gobo
Braised Burdock Root with Tamari [or Shoyu]
This is a fabulous and nourishing dish you make by harvest the roots of burdock. I try to find ones that are not hollow. Once they reach that stage they are very fibrous and not so good for braising and eating. Once you have a good amount or are tired of digging, it’s time to make your dish. Truth is this is a labor intensive dish, from harvest to serving, you are going to work. But in the end you’ll have some tasty food, you’ll make believers out of nay-sayers. And: we cook, therefore we are.
Harvest burdock root in spring [fall harvest of 1st year plants also works.] You’ll need to bring a shovel. Since burdock has a tap root, you’ll want to dig down a good 8”-12” a few inches away from the center of the leaves. You may cut a few roots in the beginning until you get the hang of it. Not to worry, usually where there is one plants, there are many. As you probably know, most landowners are happy to have you dig them up. Including you if you are on your own land. For this dish, we only want the root, so cut of below the crown where the root is all off-white inside.
Cut at crown and remove shoots you don’t want to peel. I usually soak them in a big tub to reduce the dirt before peeling.
That’s a lot of trimming Peel root section and put in a bowl or bucket of water (I add some cider vinegar as well, about a 1/4 cup for a quart of water. Rub peeled roots in water until dirt is mostly gone. Peeled roots will brown some don’t worry about this too much.
Pre-soaking Change water until fresh water stays clean. Usually takes a couple of times after you have peeled your roots.
Cut each piece in to 1/8” slices, then stack the slices and cut again into 1/8” julienne. You may have success with a mandoline if it is very sharp and your roots are on the smaller side. I hand cut all of mine this harvest as they were pretty fibrous. Sharp knife is VERY important.
Julienne. I have tried the mandoline with limited success also. Many recipes include up to 50% of carrots, I had only half a carrot and used that this time.
Set a large pot to boil and parboil the julienned roots for 8-10 minutes. If using carrots, leave them out until the last 3-4 minutes. Strain and discard water.
Add vegetable or olive oil and heat pan on until hot on med/high.
Braising after par-boiling Add burdock [and carrots] and sauté turning down to medium heat. For my firm roots, I used about 5 minutes.
Add sake/mirin, soy, sugar [and a bit of maple syrup if you want] and continue cooking stirring periodically until liquid is absorbed/evaporated.
Transfer to serving bowl and add sesame oil, sesame seeds, chopped chives, and fish or oyster sauce.
Toss and serve!!!
Per 450g / 1lb of peeled roots
100g / 1/4 cup good vegetable oil or EVO [better]
45g / 3T brown or raw sugar
15g / 1T maple syrup - optional
85g / 1/3 C tamari [GF] or shoyu
13g / 1 T sesame oil
40g / 3 T sesame seeds
7g / 1 1/2 t fish/oyster sauce - optional
20g / 2 T chopped chives - optional
Thanks for tuning in for another installment of On Food Without Compromise. There aren’t any shortcuts really. You have to want it.
We cook, therefore we are.
Please enjoy your cooking. Eat slowly and enjoy the food.
Good cooking, good eating, good loving - K. Paul