Burdock carrot slaw (B)

April 29, 2006 at 7:26 pm (B_minus (2.5 stars), East and SE Asia, From a friend, Quick weeknight recipe, Vegetable dishes)

This recipe is originally from the Harmony Valley Farms CSA in Viroqua, Wisconsin. The friend who gave it to me said you have to let it sit for at least four hours for the flavors to blend and so the acid “cooks” the burdock. She said letting it sit a whole day ahead is even better.

The Vegetables:
1 cup burdock, scrubbed well, julienned
1/2 cup peeled carrot, julienned
2 Tbs. green onion or shallot, minced
1 tsp. sesame seeds, lightly toasted

The Marinade:
4 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice vinegar
2 Tbs honey

Sprinkle seeds over chopped veggies and toss with marinade. Chill 4 hours . Serves 4 – 6.

My notes: I used ume vinegar rather than soy sauce since I’m not eating soy right now, but otherwise followed the recipe, except I missed the part about letting it sit for at least 4 hours. Oops! And I ate the whole recipe (4-6 servings? I thought more like 2 servings. I guess it depends on how you measure a cup of burdock. I think a weight measurement might be useful in this case.) Anyhow, this was the first time I’d made a recipe with raw burdock, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was quite crunchy but not at all tough, and I loved the flavor of the raw burdock and carrot together. I liked the dressing as well but found it too sweet. I think one Tbs. honey would have been plenty. But maybe with soy sauce it would have been more balanced.

Rating: B

Update Sept 2007: Today I put in 9 ounces of burdock (about 4 cups julienned), 7 ounces of carrots (about 2 cups grated), 10 Tbs. green onion (about 3 large), 4 tsp. sesame seeds, 3 Tbs. soy sauce, 3 Tbs. sesame oil, 4 tsp. rice vinegar, and 1 Tbs. honey.