Kinpira Gobo

Kinpira Gobo

Kinpira Gobo is braised burdock root and carrot in a sweet and salty sauce. It is one of the most popular way of cooking burdock in Japan. How to cut Sasagaki gobo and its several health benefits are mentioned here.

Kinpira Gobo is a great side dish you can make ahead.  These strongly seasoned vegetables can be kept in the fridge up to a week. We call the dish like this  ” jyobi-sai” ???

“Jyobi-sai” is one of the secret for Japanese health. because jyobi-sai like kinpira gobo, are perfect for lunch box ( bento ) and busy weekday dinners when you want one more thing for the menu. In this way, you can eat many types of dishes for balanced diet!

I used to hate this dish,  I love it now when fresh burdocks are hard to get…Here in Sydney, fresh gobo is only available certain areas in certain time of year.

Recipe

Serves 4 

Ingredients  

• 2 gobo (burdock root), sasagaki cut 
• 1 large carrot, thinly cut 
• 1 TBSP roasted sesame oil 
• 2.5  TBSP (30ml)  Soy Sauce 
• 1 TBSP unrefined sugar 
• 1 TBSP Sake 
• 1 TBSP Mirin ** ( check this blog how you can find REAL mirin ) 
• 1 TBSP roasted and ground sesame seeds 

Method  

1. Put oil in a frying pan and heat at medium high heat.  Add the gobo and carrot and cook for a minute or two, and then add unrefined sugar, Sake, and Mirin, and cook for a few minutes or until the liquid is almost gone then add soy sauce then cook further 
2. Add sesame seeds and stir.  

** I have seen many recipes adding soy sauce with other seasoning but in Japanese cooking, we make sure to add sweetness first then add soy sauce. In this way, you can cut down the amount of sweetness as well as keep soy sauce aroma.

Check how I cooked Kinpura gobo from this video!