Kinpira Gobo - Japanese Burdock and Carrot Stir Fry
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!
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
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.