Simple Kinpira

I've talked about kinpira and macrobiotics a few times (like here and here), but I just recently realized that one of my staple recipes wasn't on the blog!  This recipe for kinpira is supersimple (the hardest part is finding the budock root!), so there's no reason not to try it.

I happen to love burdock and so does Richie and Avi (though we may be able to chock that up to how sweet the carrots get cooking next to it), so I'm superglad that it's become a part of our dinner repertoire.  Burdock is said to be purifying to the blood and is a diuretic, so it is detoxifying and cleansing.  Macrobiotics suggest you have it in a meal once a week.  I do my best to sneak it in whenever I find it in the market (which is honestly probably once a week at best).

I love this recipe too because once everything is prepped, it basically just steams in the pan!

Here's how I do it:

Ingredients:

3 large carrots but into matchsticks

1 large burdock root cut into matchsticks

3 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil

a couple pinches of sea salt

shoyu to taste

gomasio to garnish

1. In a large saucepan heat the sesame oil on high heat.
2. Add the burdock and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt.
3. Cook for 3-4 minutes until starting to brown a bit.
4. Add the carrots and another pinch of salt and saute for another 3-4 minutes.
5. Add enough water to just cover the bottom of the pan and turn heat the med/low and cover.
6. Let it cook for 20 minutes or until the water has evaporated.
7. Add a few glugs of shoyu (depending on taste) and cook another 5 minutes.
8. Sprinkle with gomasio and serve.