Bamboo grows – and lands on the plate
Another sign of spring, besides toon, are the bamboo shoots appearing not just in the groves, but also in the market. And making their way into the kitchen, on the plate. Spicy, too.
Leaves (wrapped up aroound the shoot) are usually removed somewhat already; the shoots get washed, cut smaller, and put into a pot with dried chile peppers and some Sichuan pepper (if wanted), to be boiled until soft (some 30 minutes) in water used for washing rice.
When boiled, the water gets drained, the bamboo shoots separated from the peppers and fried together with fresh chile peppers and some meat (and, if wanted, Shiitake mushrooms cut into strips).
