Tempura fried gobo root at home

At a few Japanese restaurants I've had the appetizer Tempura fried gobo root. It goes by Burdock root in the U.S. The Japanese use it in a number of dishes but my favorite so far is the deep fried version. Since eating it in a restaurant I'd wanted to replicate it at home. The process is fairly easy.

Whole Gobo root - from Gilgongo on Flickr

You'll need 1 or 2 Burdock or Gobo roots. In the Japanese markets (Saikaya, Daiei, More's, AVE...) you'll find them by looking for a very long root. Some have been cleaned of the dirt and some have not. The cleaned ones cost a bit more, but is worth it. Look for ごぼう on the label or the bag, which is the Hiragana for Gobo.

Gobo roots can grow up to one meter in length. You should be able to find some shorter ones too so that carrying them home is easier.

Tempura coating ingredients (scale up or down as necessary):
1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
(optional - a bit of baking powder to make it more crispy the wife says)
Add a bit more water and soy if needed to make the mix smooth enough to coat the Gobo.

The coating is the easy part. The more tedious part is preparing the Gobo root shavings.

1. Remove the outer skin of the root by scraping it with the back of a knife or vegetable peeler
2. Cut them into manageable pieces and cut off the tips/ends
3. Cut a lengthwise slit in each but only about 1/8" deep. Cut three slits on each piece
4. Use a vegetable peeler to shave each root into thin shavings, rotating it as you peel. Place the shavings into a bowl of water.
5. Once done, let the shavings soak for about 5 minutes. The water will naturally turn tan, like a beef broth color. This reduces the tannins in the root.
6. Discard the water, rinse once, and then lightly dry using paper towels.
7. Mix in the coating.
8. Deep fry in small portions in 325-350 degree oil. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, turning over about half way through. The cooking time will depend on how thin you have made the shavings, how much were added to the fryer at one time, and how crispy you want them. Adjust the time as you cook taking into account all those factors. You'll likely end up with some thinly sliced pieces crispy and some thicker ones a bit chewy on the inside. Nothing wrong with that.
9. Let drain a bit on paper towels
10 Season with a bit of salt or shichimi

We recently had a version of these at a restaurant nearby (that I haven't gotten around to posting yet) and it seemed to have a bit of curry flavoring on the outside. We liked it better than the one I made. So the next time I make it I'll try sprinkling on some curry powder.