glass noodle salad with lotus root, burdock, & black sesame

burdock root is one of those items in the produce department that took me forever to use, mostly because it looks decidedly undelicious, all hairy & dirty brown, but also because I wasn't sure how I was going to fit a meter of root into my tiny refrigerator. i'm so glad i came around. scrape that scary outside layer off, and you are left with a taste and texture like no other--earthy and sweet, soft and crunchy at the same time. i won't even get started on how healthy it is; a quick google search will blow your mind. it's basically medicine.

so of course it had to go in this yummy salad. i'm such a texture fiend sometimes, and this mix--crisp veggies, chewy cellophane noodles and tofu, and crunchy sesame seeds--really did it for me. and pretty too! i love it when food is such a total experience. anyway, check it out. ingredients
100 g cellophane noodles (1)
80 g fried tofu (2), sliced
1 small carrot, julienned
20 cm burdock root (3), julienned
5 cm lotus root (4), thinly sliced
large handful green beans, in 5 cm pieces
1 tbsp black sesame seeds (5)
juice from 1/8 lime
30 mL (adjust according to taste) soy ginger marinade

(1) 春雨, はるさめ (2) 油揚げ, あぶらあげ (3) 牛蒡, ごぼう (4) 蓮根, れんこん (5) いりごま黒

i got the lime from a.l. plaza in kosugi. everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

i was listening to thievery corporation--abductions and reconstructions while cooking this.

let's go!
1. for both the burdock and lotus root, you have two choices: fresh or pre-cleaned and cut in a little bag. if you buy them fresh, you'll need to take a couple extra steps. for the burdock root, rinse well under cold running water while scraping a knife along the surface to remove the dirt and fibers. don't go nuts here--the peel has a lot of flavor, so leave some on. for the lotus root, remove the peel with a paring knife. for both, cut and immediately soak in 2 cups of cold water & 1 tbsp vinegar for about 5 minutes. then blanch (i'll explain this in the next step). obviously, it's easier to buy the prepared roots, but sometimes you just want to spend a little quality time with your vegetables before you eat them.2. blanch your green beans (and burdock & lotus root if necessary). the purpose of blanching is to make your veggies more tender and enhance their flavor. first, boil water (add 1 tsp salt for every 3 cups water). get a big serious rolling boil going--you don't want the boil to stop when you add your cold vegetables. throw in the green beans and let them cook for about 3 minutes (about 1 minute for burdock and lotus root). drain in a colander and immediately plunge into an ice bath. this is important. if you don't do this, your veggies will keep cooking and you will have a soggy, not as flavorful salad. keep them in the ice water for 5 minutes. 3. cook your noodles according to the package and cool down in cold running water.

4. toss everything together in a big bowl.

enjoy!

yakisoba

yakisoba is amazing camping food for many reasons. the ingredients are simple and cheap. it can be made in huge batches. it's almost impossible to mess up. it's delicious! at the leavers weekend, i made yakisoba for 70 people. well, me and a small army; it's not really a task you want to tackle alone.

ingredients
4.5 kg pork, sliced thin
8 cabbages
18 carrots
12 yellow onions
10 eggplants
6 packs bean sprouts
20 3-packs yakisoba noodles
6 bottles yakisoba sauce
1 bottle vegetable yakisoba sauce
1 liter canola oil

everything on this list is from jusco in the aeon in takaoka. if you order a few days ahead of the time, they will have it all boxed up and ready to go the day you need it.

let's go!

1. you will need to bring along a guy who hits the gym a lot to help you carry this stuff, like your fellow social rep.

2. when you arrive at the campground, recruit a small group to cut the vegetables. remind them to keep the pieces small and to keep the eggplant separate, but other than that, leave them alone. you have to start some fires.

3. you will need to get four fires going. get adam to stack the coal in just the right way. let him squirt the firestarting gel, because that is the fun part.

4. bunni will also really get into starting the fires, so grab her, too. don't let her hurt josh when he suggests that she should twist the paper, and not crumple it. she hasn't seen "the great outdoors", and thinks he is just being an asshole.

5. the coals are hot, and the veggies are cut. let's get going. put a griddle over each stack of coals and let it get hot.

6. you will need to make the no meat batch first. otherwise, the griddles will get porkified, and the vegetarians will riot. hand the bag of eggplant and the vegetable sauce to the herbivores, and let them make their own stuff. they might start doing yoga and other weird hippie stuff, but just ignore it. you have work to do.

7. you should make sure there's a person at each griddle. you need to pour about 30 mL of oil on the griddle and spread it around. your griddle person might say, "wow! that's a lot of oil." it is a lot of oil, but it's a big griddle. hopefully they will eventually appreciate the ease with which they move the food around.

8. throw about 500 g of pork on the griddle. then add big handfuls of onion, carrot, cabbage, and bean sprouts. let that cook awhile. people may make comments about your apron, but that's ok. you will get the last laugh when you make it through 12 batches of yakisoba with nary a stain (ahem, niko).
9. make sure your people know to fan the coals if things start to get cool. the cardboard from a six-pack is a great tool for this job.

10. when the vegetables start getting soft, squeeze out a big bunch of yakisoba sauce. then add three-five packs of noodles. don't forget, plastic wrappers in the blue garbage bags!

11. when all that is warm and mixed together, remove from the griddle onto a serving pan. it is true what they say--canadians are very nice people. one will probably volunteer to do this job without being asked.

12. put serving trays on benches. you may have to call for people to eat a few times, but they will come--all at once.

13. people will serve themselves directly off the griddle. this is fine--they can keep an eye on the yakisoba--maybe.

14. if you are asked by a japanese person if you are making japanese yakisoba, gently remind them that yakisoba is japanese, so yes. if they persist in nagging you about "the japanese way," put them to work, and tell them to make sure it's done right.

15. make sure you bring enough plates. if you run out, people go crazy and will try to eat off of any smooth surface.

16. enjoy!