Description: No deep fry. Only 1 spoon of oil can make a great side dish. This goes really well with white wine or sake.
Serves: 2
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• Chikuwa fish cakes – chopped, 160g
• Burdock – chopped diagonally, 100g
• Potato flour (Alternatively, wheat flour) – 1 tablespoon
• Salt – 2 dashes
• Aosa powder (Aonori seaweed powder) – ½ tablespoon
• Sunflower oil – 1 tablespoon

Method

1. Peel the skin of the burdock and soak it in the water for a few minutes.
2. In a small bowl, mix the potato flour and seaweed powder.
3. Add the burdock and chikuwa fish cakes to the bowl and pad to cover their surface.
4. Heat up a small non-stick frying pan over medium heat, add sunflower oil and cook both sides of burdock and chikuwa until they get slightly brown. You may close the lid so that steam helps to cook them.

Nutritional Values Per Serving

Kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs	Fibre	Sugars	Salt	Saturated Fat
199.7	10.6g	7.1g	22.1g	3.1g	5.4g	1.3g	0.5g
10.0%	21.2%	10.1%	8.5%	10.2%	6.0%	20.9%	2.6%

Nutritional Tips

Burdock root is generally known as “greater burdock” or “gobo: 牛蒡/ゴボウ)”, scientifically as “Arctium lappa” and it is an underground tuber of the greater burdock plant. Burdock roots are also low in sugar, fat, and sodium, moderately low calories for vegetables (72 kcal per 100g: USDA) and a good source of potassium. Their skin is dark brown in colour looks like a tree branch, and tastes crunchy and fibrous. Once it is exposed to the air after cutting, it starts oxidising and becomes pink, dark or grey. To avoid this, it is recommended to soak the slices in water or vinegar, although it is better not to soak for too long to prevent losing nutrients.

Burdock is quite versatile and can be added to a variety of dishes such as kinpira gobo, tempura, soup, salad, simmered dish, or chips. For people on potassium-sparing diuretic therapy, it may aggravate potassium-toxic symptoms such as stomach pain, feeling sick and diarrhoea. Also, elderly or people whose kidney function is compromised should be careful. 100g of raw broccoli and burdock contain similar amounts of potassium (316mg and 308mg, respectively: USDA). As always, you must seek professional advice when in doubt.