This is my attempt to recreate the Spicy Burdock Salad found at Delica in San Francisco. If I could be “in love” with a salad, this would be the one! Even though it’s called Spicy Burdock Salad, it really isn’t that spicy at all!

I first tasted this heavenly salad several years ago during my first visit to the Ferry Building Marketplace. During my most recent trip to farmers market, I made sure I had lunch at Delica again. I wasn’t disappointed!

Since my most recent trip was right before the New Year, I decided to make this salad for my in-laws Japanese New Years Day gathering. Thankfully, I found the salad girl of Say Yes to Salad also loves this salad as much as I do, and she had a version of the recipe on her blog. Her version was a great starting point for helping create my version of this salad.

I believe her recipe left out some key ingredients, like lotus root, mizuna, and mirin. I do think it’s important to include the all three. The lotus root and mizuna have great taste! If you can’t find mizuna use arugula, and water chestnuts are a suggested substitute for lotus root, but I REALLY think lotus root is a key ingredient 🙂

One ingredient that may be hard to find is konnyaku, (Japanese yam) I have asian markets, like Mitsuwa nearby. If you don’t have an asian market near you, substitute with another vegetable, or leave it out. The konnyaku is included more for texture, than taste.

Here’s a picture of the sliced burdock, and carrots, the square, purplish item is the konnyaku.

The bulk of this recipe is the prep work of peeling, cutting, and chopping the various ingredients. And yes, it takes about an hour if you’re a “slow chopper” like me. I promise it’s worth the prep time! After the prep and the short cook time, it needs to marinate overnight and then it’s ready to be devoured!

Serves 4   Prep time: 1 hour, plus 8 hours marinating.  Cook time: 10 min

Ingredients

• 2 cups of burdock, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, shredded or thinly slice
• 4 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
• 1 block of konnyaku, cut into small slices, similar to the sliced burdock
• 3 cups of mizuna or arugula
• 1 TBSP sesame oil
• 1 inch of ginger, grated
• 1/2 tsp of chili powder, or more if you like things really spicy
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 TBSP sesame seeds
• 2 TBSP tamari or soy sauce
• 1 TBSP of mirin (rice wine)
• salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions

Boil the konnyaku slices in water for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add ginger and sauté for 1 minute. Add the burdock, lotus, drained konnyaku, and chili powder. Sauté for about 5-7 minutes, reduce the heat to medium-high if you’re nervous about burning. When the burdock is tender enough to chew, remove it from the heat and let cool.

Mix together the water, vinegar, and sugar. Soak the sliced celery in the mix for 5 minutes, then drain.

Add the sautéed burdock mix, celery, and carrots to a medium size bowl. Mix in sesame seeds, tamari, mirin, salt and pepper. Allow this mix to marinate overnight.

Prior to serving, mix in the mizuna and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Enjoy the different textures of this healthy salad!