Burdock root cooking (Gobo root)
Burdock root is a really long root vegetable used for many dishes in Japan. It can be served chopped into julienne and seasoned with savory or sweet spices, cut into chunks and simmered with other veggies and meat, cooked with rice, deep fried for chips, and many more ways. Known as Gobo in Japanese, it has a crunchy texture and earthy aroma. As for health benefits, gobo has tons of fiber, contains antioxidants and purifies blood among other things.
People might wonder how to prepare this vegetable. Today, I’ll show you how to prepare gobo and one of the chopping skills often used for preparation, “Sasagaki” slicing. Sasa means bamboo leaf so literally, we are going to slice gobo into thin sasa shapes. I’ll also introduce you to a very simple dish which will allow you to enjoy the pure taste of gobo with only 3 seasonings. Directions on how to store gobo can be found after the recipe.
Preparation for gobo using the sasagaki technique
Cut gobo into 3 pieces.
There is no need to peel gobo. Just rinse with water and scrub off the dirt with a brush. I use a “tawashi” brush which is made from palm tree but you can use a regular brush that have at home.
Cut 3-4 shallow slits lengthwise (1/4 deep)
There are two standard ways to cut this vegetable.
Hold the gobo in one hand and shred with your knife thinly like sharpening a pencil. Meanwhile, keep rotating the gobo constantly and keep shredding.
Place the gobo on a chopping board and keep your knife almost parallel to the gobo. (Your knife blade is facing to right if you are right handed)
As you keep shredding, the gobo keeps getting smaller and makes it hard to keep cutting the same way. When you reach that point, cut the gobo in two lengthwise and slice very thinly and diagonally to the end.
As you shred the gobo, put into water at the same time. After finishing shredding, change the water once or twice and drain water. (It will remove bitterness)
Sasagaki gobo with salt and black pepper
This dish is super simple. All you need is salt, black pepper and sesame oil. If you don’t have sesame oil, you can substitute any oil you have at home. This is a dish which my mom often cooked at home and I love so much!
Use 1 stalk of gobo. Slice gobo into sasagaki.
In a pan heat 2 Tablespoons of sesame oil on medium heat and add sasagaki gobo.
Saute for 3-4 minutes until the earthy aroma comes from gobo.
Sprinkle salt and mix. Turn off the heat and sprinkle freshly ground pepper.
Optionally, you can add toasted sesame (around 1 teaspoon).
You can server either warm or at room temperature. It taste even great the next day!
How to store gobo
I usually cut gobo into 3 and wrap with damp paper towels and plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out. Store in the fridge. I change the paper towel and plastic wrap once every 2-3 days.