Burdock is a wild root vegetable that grows vertically under the ground, one of the most yang categories for vegetables. The first time I heard about burdock was in George Ohsawa's book, Zen Macrobiotics. It was listed as an ingredient in two recipes called "Tekka No. 1" and "Tekka No. 2" (pages 88 and 89) that included miso, ginger, and other vegetables.
I was very surprised, later, when I found some in my local grocery store (New Leaf Market). This was some time ago, several years in fact. It's a funny looking root — long, skinny, and brown. When I washed it, scrubbing it like I'd scrub a carrot, a lot of the brown color rubbed off, revealing a white color underneath. Was it dirt? Or just a thin skin? I don't know for sure. But nevertheless, I continued scrubbing until it looked like it was clean.
I decided to grate it like a carrot, using the larger holes in my metal "cheese grater," and then saute it, along with some carrots, in sesame seed oil and olive oil. (You can also slice it paper-thin on the diagonal and it looks really pretty that way.) Burdock needs to cook longer than a carrot does, so I started cooking it first while I prepared the carrots. After I browned all the vegetables a little, I added a few drops of water and some unrefined celtic sea salt. I covered the pan, lowered the heat, and let it cook on low for about 15 minutes. Then I turned off the heat and let it rest, without lifting the lid.
It was absolutely delicious! Very exotic and stimulating. Made me feel like a gourmet cook!
Evidently, burdock has strong medicinal benefits. George Ohsawa states that his recipe for Tekka No. 1 is good for all yin diseases, as well as anemia, and his recipe for Tekka No. 2 is good for coughs, asthma, and tuberculosis — both recipes include burdock. What I know personally is that burdock tastes unusual and very good, and especially in times of colder weather, it makes me feel good when I eat it.
Notes:
• Burdock is included in the Carl Ferre's list of vegetables for a macrobiotic centering diet. See my earlier entry, "Vegetables for Centering," for the whole list.
• Zen Macrobiotic Cooking by Michel Abehsera, has a couple of good recipes for burdock in a "nituke" and in a "tempura."
• There's a good recipe for "James and Packy's Burdock Ribs" in the French Meadows Cookbook, by Julia Ferre. You can get this book at the George Ohsawa Macrobiotics Foundation website.
• I found a website, wildmanstevebrill.com, that has a lot of useful information about the burdock plant. How it grows, what it looks like, etc. He has a couple of videos to watch about it too.
