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Pounded Burdock Root with Sesame Sauce (Tataki Gobo)
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
5 mins
Total Time
15 mins
 

Coated in flavoursome roasted white sesame sauce, today’s dish brings the best out of the burdock – it’s crunchy texture and unique taste. You can eat Pounded Burdock Root with Sesame Sauce just like snacks.

Recipe Type: Side
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: Burdock, burdock root, sesame sauce
Serves: 2 - 3 Servings
Author: Yumiko
Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)
  • 125g/4.4oz fresh burdock root (note 1)
  • 3 tbsp vinegar , separated
Sesame Dressing
  • 2 tbsp roasted white sesame seeds
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce (note 2)
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp vinegar
Instructions
  1. Fill a bowl or a plastic container with 500ml/16.9oz of water (not in ingredients) with 2 tablespoons of vinegar.

  2. Cut the root to half (note 1). Using the back of a knife, scrape the dark brown skin off one piece of the root.
  3. Rinse and cut it into a log about 5cm/2” long. If the root is thick, cut the log in half or quarter lengthwise so that each piece is about the thickness of your little finger.

  4. As you make thin logs, place them in the water with vinegar. This will prevent the burdock from getting dark due to oxidisation.
  5. Repeat for the second piece of the root.
  6. Boil water in a small saucepan with a tablespoon of vinegar.
  7. Drain the burdock pieces, transfer them to the sauce pan and cook for 3 minutes. Drain.
  8. Place burdock pieces on a cutting board. Using a rolling pin, bash each burdock piece lightly in a couple of places to bruise it (note 3).
  9. While the burdock pieces are still hot/warm, dress with the Sesame Dressing (note 4).
  10. This dish is best to eat after few hours (note 5). Keeps up to 4-5 days in the fridge.

Sesame dressing (make this while boiling burdock)
  1. Grate sesame seeds half way so that some are fully crashed, some remain as whole seeds (note 6).
  2. Combine the ground sesame and the remaining ingredients of Sesame Dressing and mix well.
Recipe Notes

1. My burdock root was thin and long. It was about 50cm/1.6ft long which is too long to handle when scraping off the skin. That’s why I cut it to half. But if your burdock is fat and short, you don’t need to cut it.

2. I used light soy sauce to maintain the colour of the white sesame as much as possible. But you can use normal soy sauce instead.

3. The burdock pieces are small and hot but you need to pound them as fast as possible.

4. It is important to dress the burdock while hot so that the flavour of the Sesame Sauce is absorbed into the burdock effectively.

5. I put the dressed burdock pieces in a zip lock plastic bag and store them.

6. I used a Japanese sesame grinding tool that I bought at Daiso. It grinds the sesame to just the right degree for Tataki Gobō. Please see the photo in the post.

7. Nutrition per serving assuming 2 servings.

serving: 114g calories: 146kcal fat: 6.9g (6%) saturated fat: 0.51g (3%) trans fat: 0g polyunsaturated fat: 1.7g monounsaturated fat: 1.5g cholesterol: 0mg (0%) sodium: 546mg (23%) potassium: 273mg (%) carbohydrates: 16.3g (5%) dietary fibre: 4.8g (20%) sugar: 10.2g protein: 3.1g vitamin a: 0% vitamin c: 0% calcium: 0.1 % iron: 0.1%