Ingredients
10 slim burdock roots
120 ml rice or white wine vinegar
120 ml miso or stock
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons medium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
Nettle seed (traditionally sesame seed)
Directions
Peel and cut the burdock into finger-size lengths and soak in water for 5 minutes.
Boil in a pan with water and a dash of vinegar for about 5 minutes while you make the marinade.
Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the nettle seed) to a small saucepan and heat to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil. Remove from the heat.
Remove the burdock roots from the heat. Strain. Put them onto a chopping board (some people also put them inside a plastic bag) and pound them with wooden rolling pin so that the roots soften. The object is to soften and flatten them, not to mash them!
Cut the bashed roots into pencil-width strips. Put into a bowl and cover with the marinade for at least half a day or, ideally, overnight. Turn them occasionally to ensure the marinade covers them all.
Serve cold sprinkled with dry toasted nettle or sesame seed.