Gobo Salad is a popular side dish that is often in bento boxes or an item in the deli case at stores. It is a healthy and tasty dish you want to add to your meals sometimes.
Gobo is burdock root, a long brown root vegetable full of fiber. It is a traditional Japanese vegetable and eaten as regular food for a thousand years, and we are the only ones who do so. Gobo has a distinctive smell and texture and you may need to get used to the flavor if you’ve never eaten it before. It is often used in Nimono, boiled and seasoned vegetable dishes, but it is a very good ingredient for salad too. Cook Gobo enough in boiling water, but not too much, so that a little crispy texture remains. Cut Gobo will easily turn brown, so soak in water promptly after cutting to avoid discoloration. But that very color shows minerals, so you may want to use it right away so you don’t lose all of the nutrients into the water.
Gobo Salad is seasoned in two steps. When Gobo is still hot after straining the boiling water, mix with the first part of the dressing, a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar. This way, the flavor of the seasonings are absorbed into Gobo well. Then coat with sesame mayonnaise after the dish is cooled. Gobo and sesame go together very well. It’s ok to use whole sesame seeds too, but it is better with ground sesame seeds that are much more flavorful. If you want a little heat, Shichimi Togarashi pepper can be sprinkled on before serving.
It is a simple dish, and can be made in advance and kept for a week or so. Gobo Salad is a great side dish you will always come back to. So try it for your next meal!
Gobo Salad Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 Gobo
- 1/3 carrot
- 3 Tbsp mayo
- 1 Tbsp ground sesame seeds
- Shichimi Togarashi optional
Instructions
- Mix Soy Sauce, sugar, and rice vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside.
- Boil water in a medium pot.
- Meanwhile, slice Gobo thinly diagonally. Then cut into thin match sticks. Soak cut Gobo in water.
- Cut carrot thinly too.
- Drain water from the cut Gogo, add the Gobo to boiling water, and cook for 2 minutes. Add carrot and cook 1 minute longer. Strain the vegetables, add to the sauce, and mix well. Cool completely.
- Then add mayo and sesame seeds and mix. Sprinkle with Shichimi pepper if you like.
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