Buuuurrrrrdoooockkk!

Hello, World!

Today I'm going to try something a little bit different. This post isn't about crafting, nor is it a personal rant about my life. Instead... its about food!!

The reason why I decided to post this was because I had far too many people asking me... What the heck is that?? And... how does one cook something like this?

What I'm talking about is... Burdock! (Or, in Chinese 牛蒡 - Niu Bang. Or, in Japanese ごぼう- Gobo). If you want to know more about this root, check out Wikipedia! Can't go wrong there, right? ;P

In any case, I was first introduced to this food from my mom, and it's super easy to make (well... let's face it... everything I cook is super easy to make). I'll put out a disclaimer though... I cook like the stereotypical Asian person: I don't do measurements. My method of cooking is eyeballing ingredients, which I know drives some people crazy. But I'll do my best to try to guestimate what I use in one serving size.

Ingredients:

 - Burdock root (1-2 roots)

 - Chopped garlic (3-4 cloves)

 - Shredded meat (I usually use 1.5-2 lbs of beef)

 - Soy sauce (about 1/2 a cup, or to taste)

 - Brown sugar (1 tbsp packed, or to taste)

Directions:

1: Wash the roots! Typically, when I purchase the roots, they come in packs of 2-3, which makes for a LOT of burdock. But because I hate having to cook a little bit at a time, I tend to throw all of it in the pot... making for lots of leftovers.

2: Chop off the ends of both sides (it tapers out towards the end, which tend to be dry, so I usually cut them off), then section off the roots into more "cutting-board" friendly sizes.

3: Using the backside of your knife, or a spoon, scrape off the skin of the root. You're welcome to use a vegetable peeler as well, but the skin of burdock is actually very thin, and I've found that I usually end up taking off too much when I use the peeler. By using a spoon or the backside of a knife, I only take off a thin layer of skin, which allows me to save more of the root.

4: Slice the roots into thin slices, diagonally (kinda like julienne). The reason that I slice it diagonally, rather than straight through the middle is because I want very thin slices. And, since there is a lot of root to go through, I try to slice it thinly, diagonally, with as much surface area as I possibly can. As a plus, I think the vegetables look prettier this way. \ (^o^) /

5: After slicing the roots diagonally, slice everything until you end up with thin slices, as pictured below. Don't worry if some slices are bigger than others, everything will get cooked in the end. So no worries!



(Tip: If you have a vegetable slicer, now is the time to break it out!! My arm always gets really sore chopping up all these roots. But if you can have a machine do all the work for you... why not?!)

Now, you're ready to cook!

6: Heat up a pan on medium heat, and add cooking oil.

7: Saute garlic until slightly brown, then add your meat (in this case, beef). I haven't tried adding other types, but that's probably because I like beef so much, I don't want to be disappointed if another meat doesn't work as well. Haha. But, pork sounds like it would work well with this dish too.



8: After everything is cooked through, add the roots and saute for another 8 min or so (cover with lid if necessary).



9: Add in soy sauce and brown sugar.



9: Cook for another 5-10 min, until you see all the roots start to take on the darker color of the soy sauce.



10: Done! Serve and enjoy! :)



I realized... I forgot to take a picture of the actual dish when I plated it. Oh well! Sorry! :p

Burdock doesn't soften like other roots, like potatoes or carrots. Instead, it retains a kind of crunchy texture, which I really like. Burdock also has a slightly sweeter taste, so you might find that you don't have to add that much sugar to the dish. Remember, the measurements that I have listed out are only for reference -- tweak them to your own tastes! :) You can also choose to thrown in some green onion for extra color or flair.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Thanks for reading

:)