Monday, April 21, 2008

gobo salad

Found a recipe for the gobo salad that I like...I love the internet!

Adapted it a bit...from Cookpad--Serves 2

1 package for kinpira (100g) pre-cut gobo (burdock), carrots
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
4 grinds of black pepper)
1 dash of shichimi (Japanese 7-pepper)
2 tablespoons of canned corn, rinsed
1 package (50g) of chickpeas, kidney beans and peas, rinsed
3 pinches of black sesame seeds

If you do use a kinpira mix, separate the carrots from the gobo.
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil.
Cook gobo for 5 minutes.
During last minute, add carrots.
Drain well.
While hot, sprinkle vinegar over gobo and carrots and mix.
Add rest of ingredients and mix well.
Chill and serve.

NOTES: The original recipe calls for you to "whittle" the gobo, but I took the lazy way out and bought the pre-"whittled" package. I think the next time I'll add thinly sliced red onion and maybe some cooked, shelled soybeans. Add whatever veggies you have in your fridge or your favorites! Also, if the texture is too watery for you, you could add a bit more mayo.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd definitely go for the pre-"whittled" also! :) Great pics in the Himeji post, those were some long lines!

K and S said...

Hi Lori,
The lines were long, thank goodness it wasn't humid, or it may have tested my patience even further! :) Hope you like the salad.
Take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

At first I always went for the precut gobo until I realized the difference in prices between uncut and cut. So what I did was choose a day when there wasn't a lot of things to do, then I sat myself down and cleaned/julienned 6-8 of those gobo roots, storing them in several containers of water for future use. At the rate at which we could eat this delicious salad, my hard work lasted for only...oh about 3 days? :lol:

So cool that you went to the sweets expo, even if there were tons of people. Loved that tako fishcake!

K and S said...

I should really check the price for the uncut gobo, Rowena. If it is WAY cheaper, I should try julienne-ing it myself. :)

I was hoping that they would have had some samples at the expo, but they didn't :(

Take care.
Kat

Anonymous said...

Hi , If you feel like doing the homemade gobo, try pu one of those peelers made for that purpose. Its similar to ones that you can do green papaya salad with. Very fast and fun too. My dad use to grow burdock and he use to slice each one in that perfect "Okazuya" size ..I dont have that talent or patience. I really think that fresh is best

K and S said...

I will definitely try fresh, Shar.

Take care and thanks for the tip.
Kat

Parisbreakfasts said...

Looks delicious!
and no butter or sugar required! :)

K and S said...

wonderful, huh??

Thanks PB!

Take care.
Kat

ilingc said...

Gobo sounds interesting. I've never tried it. What's the texture or taste like?

K and S said...

Not that I've tried it, but the texture is like wood, Ilingc! :)

Take care.
Kat

Anonymous said...

I made gobo salad today following the recipe you give above. I didn't have chickpeas, so I substituted by mixing some frozen edamame and green peas together to replace the beans.

It was a little watery, so I drained a bit of the liquid off and added another 2 tsp of Japanese mayonnaise.

The taste is really good. I like the overall balance of taste and the artichoke-like flavor of the burdock root. The salad looks nice, too.

My Japanese BF was very surprised when he came home and saw this salad on the table for dinner. :-)

Thanks for the recipe. (I read your blog a lot but don't comment much.)

BTW, the whole menu was:

- gobo salad, served with cold sake
- green salad (Western style, with green lettuce)

- Oyster stew (oysters, butter, milk, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper)

- French bread

K and S said...

Hi Colin,
I'm glad you liked the gobo salad recipe! and your dinner sounded like a great mixture of East and West :)

Take care and thanks for commenting.
Kat

a2z said...

Hey,
Thanks for the recipe. On a whim this year, I grew a bunch of gobo from seed in my veggie garden. At first, it did not look that promising as the snails were munching on the leaves, but as soon as the weather got warmer, the plants took off! Now, I have an abundance of gobo and I HAVE FIBER. no kidding. The gobo salad was a nice change from the tried and true kimpira. I couldn't resist adding some sesame oil, but I think I'll be making this again and again, while my harvest lasts.

K and S said...

I'm glad you like it A2zumac, and I'm glad you added some of your own touches to it too.

Take care.
Kat