Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
I found this recipe in one of my Japanese cook books written by Yoshiharu Doi.
I thought it was so pretty that I couldn't resist sharing this recipe.
Plus, I think the combination of gobo and beef go really well together. I altered the sauce recipe slightly but still went with a traditional soy sauce based sauce. However, you can use all sorts of sauces such as a red wine sauce or herb butter sauce. If you want to put your knife skills to work, try carving little flower designs into the gobo. It's a small touch but adds a lot to the presentation.
Ingredients (Servings 2)
15 cm of gobo
150 grams of shabu shabu style meat (50 grams of meat or 2 slices of meat per 5 cm of gobo)
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of mirin
1/2 tablespoon of sake
1/2 tablespoon of sugar
a dash of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
Directions
1) Wash and peel the gobo. (For directions see
Ingredient in the Spotlight: Gobo (Burdock Root))
2) Lay 2 pieces of shabu shabu meat on a chopping board so that they are slightly overlapping. Place the gobo over the width of the meat to measure it and cut it.
3) Put the gobo in a bowl of water for
akunuki for about 10 minutes.
4) Boil them in a small pot of water with a teaspoon of vinegar until they are slightly bendy. The time will vary depending on the thickness of the piece of gobo but it should take about 10 minutes.
5) Drain the gobo and put them in cold water to cool.
6) Drain the cold water and sprinkle them with a little salt.
7) Place the gobo on one end of the meat and start rolling them.
8) Heat a frying pan until hot and add vegetable oil. Coat the pan.
9) Place the gobo/beef in the frying pan and allow it to sear and then turn until all sides are done. Tip: If you try to turn the beef before it's done cooking, it might stick and tear so the key is to wait a little before turning. Be careful to not let it burn though.
10) Once all the sides are cooked, take the beef out and use a paper towel to clean the pan.
11) Add the sauce ingredients, a dash of nutmeg and the beef rolls back into the pan and turn to coat the entire roll in the sauce. Simmer on your lowest heat setting. Be careful not to let the sauce bubble too much because the soy sauce can burn easily and burnt soy sauce has an icky flavor.
12) After the rolls are coated and it looks like the gobo absorbed some of the sauce, cool on a chopping board.
13) Cut each roll into 3-4 even pieces.
14) Serve on a small plate and garnish with green beans, asparagus or some green vegetable.
Shabu Shabu beef comes packaged like this.
Lay the meat out and measure the gobo.
Put gobo into a bowl of water for akunuki.
Boil the gobo in a small pot with vinegar.
Drain and cool the gobo in cold water.
If you opt to make knife cuts into the gobo, do it after they are cool.
Roll the gobo in shabu shabu style meat.
Fry them in a pan with a little bit of vegetable oil.
Wipe pan with a paper towel.
Add sauce ingredients and beef rolls back into the pan. Simmer on low heat until all sides are coated with the sauce.
Show off your knife skills.
Plate and garnish with greens.
