Stir fried to perfection, Kinpira Gobo is a delicious Japanese side dish of carrot and burdock root in a sauce of soy, mirin and sake. Vegan friendly too!
Why We Love This
Kinpira gobo is a quick and easy Japanese stir fry with a spicy zing. Whip it up as a healthy vegan side dish or delicious addition to homemade bento boxes.
The recipe is adaptable to use up whatever crunchy vegetables you have on hand, and uses common Japanese seasonings you likely have on hand if you enjoy cooking Asian dishes at home.
What is Kinpira Gobo?
Kinpira is a Japanese cooking method where thinly sliced vegetables, usually burdock (known as gobo) and carrot, are sautéed and simmered. The seasoning is usually a blend of soy sauce, sake, mirin, and dashi stock, with a sprinkling of raw sugar and a handful of chopped red chilli to amp up the flavour.
It’s a common inclusion in bento boxes alongside other Japanese side dishes like takuan pickles, cooked rice, potato salad, Japanese tofu patties, ginger pork or katsu chicken.
Where We Learned This
We first learned this recipe during a private lesson from a Japanese chef, organised by our wonderful couch surfing host in Okayama.
With the restaurant closed for the night, we had the whole kitchen to ourselves. She taught us how to slice burdock into slivers using the sasagaki method, which after a little practice, becomes much easier to do than you might think.
Related:Gungjung Tteokbokki Stir Fry / Yakisoba Fried Noodles
What You’ll Need
- Burdock – This long root vegetable looks a bit like a flexible brown carrot. Where carrots are juicy and sweet, burdock has an earthy crunch all of its own. It’s widely available in Japan, but can be a little harder to source in other countries. Asian groceries or markets will be your best source for fresh burdock. We’ve found frozen sliced burdock and dried burdock pieces at different grocers in our area. Dried burdock should be reconstituted (in boiling water for around 5 mins) then chopped up into fine slivers. Sub with just about any crunchy vegetable you like such as, parsnip, asparagus, sliced lotus root or capsicum / bell pepper.
- Dashi Stock – You can use homemade dashi stock or dashi powder dissolved in hot water as a quick alternative. Dashi powder is available in two main varieties – hon dashi (more intense flavour with bonito flakes) or kombu dashi (seaweed only stock).
- Mirin – This is a sweet rice wine for cooking. If you can’t find it at your supermarket, you can omit or add in a tsp of sugar instead. You can sometimes find this in regular supermarkets, otherwise head to your nearest Asian grocer or online.
- Cooking Sake – Substitute with Chinese cooking wine, or a regular dry white wine if you need.
- Garnishes – Sprinkle with white sesame seeds and fresh chilli, shichimi togarashi, or a drizzle of rayu chilli oil to taste.
How to Slice Vegetables for Kinpira Gobo – Two Ways:
Traditional Sasagaki Style – Best for Burdock
Hold the thick end of the burdock root, and cut vertical slices into the thinner end. Now hold the root on a 45˚ angle and shave with your knife – just like sharpening a pencil the old fashioned way. Rotate the burdock continually as you go.
Once you reach the end of your first round of vertical cuts, make new vertical cuts as before, then continue to shave on the 45˚ angle.
Once you reach the very end of the burdock and you can’t make any more shavings, just slice up the rest of the root as thinly as you can.
When sliced this way, the shavings will be quite fine and thin – this will give you a delicious crunchy texture while allowing the burdock to soak up all the flavours from the seasonings.
Julienne Style – Best for Carrot
Cut each carrot into half, then square off the edges until you have long rectangular blocks. Slice each block into thin planks, then cut through each plank again to form matchsticks. You can stack a few planks on top of each other to make this process a bit quicker. There are plenty of online tutorials to julienne your carrot too.
How to make Kinpira Gobo:
- For the stir fry sauce: Mix the dashi powder and water in a small mixing bowl. Add the soy, mirin and sake and stir.
- Prepare the vegetables: Wash the burdock root thoroughly to remove dirt. Slice into small julienne strips about 4 – 5 cm long, or use the sasagaki method to slice into shavings. Soak in water to keep fresh, then drain and squeeze out any remaining liquid just before cooking. Meanwhile slice the carrot into julienne strips or cut sasagaki style.
- To cook: Heat the sesame oil in a fry pan over high heat. Add the burdock and carrot and stir fry for a couple of minutes.
- Pour in half of the sauce and continue to stir fry for another minute or so.
- Once the liquid starts to evaporate, add in the remaining sauce. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce has reduced (another 1-2 minutes).
- Garnish with sesame seeds and serve immediately.
Wandercook’s Tips
- Preparing Fresh Burdock – Always give fresh burdock a good wash under running water to remove the dirt, but avoid peeling as this will remove it’s earthy flavour. Slice just before you’re ready to cook, and soak the slices in water while you’re preparing the carrot. This helps keep it fresh and stop the colour changing, while also helping to remove some of the astringent flavour. Drain and squeeze out any remaining liquid just before cooking.
- Presentation – Whether you use the julienne or sasagaki method, don’t worry too much about perfect presentation. No matter how it looks, it will still taste amazing!
FAQs
Yes you can. Kinpira gobo will last for up to a week if stored in an airtight container in the fridge. You can freeze it for 2-3 months, although we avoid freezing kinpira gobo made with pre-frozen burdock to avoid it being frozen twice. It’s a good idea to separate it in small portions to make it easier to serve later.
Since this is a classic bento box dish, you could serve it with homemade sushi, onigiri rice balls, takuan daikon pickles or simmered tofu. It would be amazing over steamed rice garnished with fresh chilli and sesame seeds. You could use it any time you want to add a yummy crunchy vegetable side dish to your main meal. We’ve also heard of it being used as a sandwich filling or onigirazu sushi sandwiches.
Try these tasty Japanese appetisers next:
★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and a star rating below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 burdock root approx 2 cups once sliced sasagaki style
- 2 carrots peeled and julienne sliced or sasagaki style
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds to garnish
For the Sauce
- 1 tsp dashi powder
- 180 ml water
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp sake
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
Optional
- 1/2 tbsp raw sugar sprinkled over the dish while stir frying for extra caramelisation
- 1 small red chilli chopped, to add heat
Instructions
For the Stir Fry Sauce:
- Mix the dashi powder and water in a small mixing bowl. Add the soy, mirin and sake and stir.1 tsp dashi powder, 180 ml water, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin, 2 tbsp sake
Prepare the Vegetables:
- Wash the burdock root thoroughly to remove dirt. Slice into small julienne strips about 4 – 5 cm long, or use the sasagaki method to slice into shavings. Soak in water to keep fresh, then drain and squeeze out any remaining liquid just before cooking. Meanwhile slice the carrot into julienne strips or cut sasagaki style.1 burdock root, 2 carrots
To Cook:
- Heat the sesame oil in a fry pan over high heat. Add the burdock and carrot and stir fry for a couple of minutes.1 tbsp sesame oil
- Pour in half of the sauce and continue to stir fry for another minute or so. Once the liquid starts to evaporate, add in the remaining sauce. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce has reduced (another 1-2 minutes). Garnish with sesame seeds and serve immediately.1 tsp white sesame seeds
Video
Recipe Notes
- Burdock – This long root vegetable looks a bit like a flexible brown carrot. Where carrots are juicy and sweet, burdock has an earthy crunch all of its own. It’s widely available in Japan, but can be a little harder to source in other countries. Asian groceries or markets will be your best source for fresh burdock. We’ve found frozen sliced burdock and dried burdock pieces at different grocers in our area. Dried burdock should be reconstituted (in boiling water for around 5 mins) then chopped up into fine slivers. Sub with just about any crunchy vegetable such as, parsnip, asparagus, sliced lotus root or capsicum / bell pepper.
- To Slice Burdock
- Hold the thick end of the burdock root, and cut vertical slices into the thinner end. Now hold the root on a 45˚ angle and shave with your knife – just like sharpening a pencil the old fashioned way. Rotate the burdock continually as you go.
- When sliced this way, he shavings should be quite fine and thin – this will give you a delicious crunchy texture while allowing the burdock to soak up all the flavours from the seasonings.
- Once you reach the end of your first round of vertical cuts, make new vertical cuts as before, then continue to shave on the 45˚ angle.
- Once you reach the very end of the burdock and you can’t make any more shavings, just slice up the rest of the root as thinly as you can.
- Dashi Stock –You can use homemade dashi stock or dashi powder dissolved in hot water as a quick alternative. Dashi powder is available in two main varieties – hon dashi (more intense flavour with bonito flakes) or kombu dashi (seaweed only stock).
- Mirin – This is a sweet rice wine for cooking. If you can’t find it at your supermarket, you can omit or add in a tsp of sugar instead. You can sometimes find this in regular supermarkets, otherwise head to your nearest Asian grocer or online.
- Cooking Sake –Substitute with Chinese cooking wine, or a regular dry white wine if you need.
- Garnishes – Sprinkle with white sesame seeds, shichimi togarashi spice blend, or a drizzling of rayu chilli oil to taste.
Nutrition
16 Comments
ELINA
26/11/2022 at 6:04 amI FIND THAT 180 ML WATER IS TOO MUCH, THE VEGETABLES ARE JUST SWIMMING IN THE SAUCE AND NOT EVEN FRYING PROPERLY. WHAT AM i DOING WRONG?
Wandercooks
29/11/2022 at 5:27 pmHey Elina. It’s definitely the correct amount of liquid. Here’s some tips to make sure you get it right:
– Watch the recipe video, so you can see the steps in action.
– Stir fry the veggies FIRST, in a large frying pan and keep the heat high.
– Pour in HALF the sauce, and continue cooking on high heat.
– Once ALL the liquid has evaporated, pour in the remaining sauce and continue cooking on high heat. The veggies will soak up all the liquid, then turn nice and sticky – just keep cooking!
Ashely Adams
11/01/2021 at 1:12 amI made the recipe exactly as written with one minor change: I did not have Hon Dashi powder so I used powdered Shiitake bouillon instead. It still came out awesome despite the change! Next time I go to my Asian market, I’ll pick up Hon Dashi and try it that way!
Wandercooks
11/01/2021 at 10:29 amOh good to know the shiitake bouillon worked well as a sub. Thanks heaps for the feedback and so glad you enjoyed it. It is a great little dish!
Shihoko
03/07/2016 at 7:01 pmYum! My favourite Japanese dish <3 where did you get fresh burdock from? I wish I can find a shop that I can buy burdocks in Brisbane 😀
Wandercooks
04/07/2016 at 12:04 pmHey Shiho! We actually cooked this recipe while we were staying in Nagasaki in Japan. At this stage we haven’t found fresh burdock for sale near us in Australia, but it’s possible to buy some seeds and grow your own at home if you’ve got your own kitchen garden going on! Asparagus is a possible substitute but we haven’t personally tried it… yet! 🙂
Kristen
08/02/2016 at 12:49 pmI love trying new stir fry dishes at home!! YUMMO!
Wandercooks
09/02/2016 at 1:38 amWe think you’ll like this one, it’s a winner in our house 😁
Shelby
07/02/2016 at 11:55 pmI absolutely love your photos – and I would take advantage of cooking with a Japanese chef also! Looks like a delicious and warming dish!
Wandercooks
09/02/2016 at 1:37 amThanks Shelby! It was an awesome experience, we really enjoyed meeting her and learning such an awesome recipe.
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry
07/02/2016 at 7:02 pmI am sitting here pondering breakfast – and then I come on to this.
Wandercooks
09/02/2016 at 1:36 amOh nice idea! We haven’t made it for breakfast yet, might give that a go next time.
khadija
07/02/2016 at 4:20 pmUnbelievable how easy this recipe is, wow! thanks for sharing
Wandercooks
09/02/2016 at 1:35 amNo worries, glad you liked it 😁
Ginger and Scotch
07/02/2016 at 4:12 pmBurdock. Very interesting. Never heard of it before – thanks for sharing the knowledge and recipe!
Wandercooks
08/02/2016 at 9:38 pmYes, it’s quite a different vegetable but similar in taste to artichoke and asparagus. We love it!