Edible bamboo shoots are seasonal vegetables for which many Asian-Australians have a soft spot.
Many Asians worldwide find this ingredient indispensable when it comes to cooking traditional and authentic home-cooked meals. During the pandemic, demand for bamboo shoots even grew in some parts of Asia.
Stir-fry with Adam
Stir-fried bamboo shoots and cured ham
In Australia, bamboo shoots are typically harder to get than other vegetables. It's only now that some supermarkets and independent grocers have begun stocking bamboo shoots.
Bamboo is a symbol of prosperity and is mainly eaten during the spring when the shoots are young and tender. The slightly crunchy texture of fresh bamboo shoots, even after being cooked, is a quality that's hard to find in other ingredients.
If you haven't eaten bamboo shoots before, I like to think of them as a cross between asparagus and artichokes: bamboo shoots up from the ground like asparagus and needs to be prepared in a similar fashion to artichokes. You need to peel the outer layer off before boiling.
Bamboo shoots are also versatile because once prepared, they can be stored in the fridge or freezer and later be used in a range of recipes like stir-fries and braised bamboo with meat and tofu, and as a garnish in ramen, as they do in Taiwan and Japan.
Even though fresh bamboo shoots are relatively hard to find in Australia, you can easily get the frozen and vacuum-sealed-packed kind.
Duck curry with bamboo shoots. Source: Andrew Dorn
I enjoy fresh shoots if I'm lucky to get my hands on them. I serve them thinly sliced with mayonnaise – a side dish loved in Taiwan, especially when the weather is warm (which is pretty much always) and bamboo shoots are plentiful.
After my parents first moved to Australia in the 1980s, we ate quite a lot of bamboo shoots. My mum couldn't part with tradition and continued to make some of my grandmother's recipes, like soy-braised bamboo with fatty pork and wood ear.
Indonesian-born pastry chef Didiet Radityawan, who is currently at STREAT Bakery in Melbourne, says he was a bamboo child too. "A basic [Indonesian] recipe for bamboo shoots is after [they are] boiled and prepared, we add kecap manis before scrambling eggs and prawns," Radityawan says. The recipe can also include chicken.
An Indonesian dish featuring this combination is Semarang spring rolls.
"My wife was born and raised in Semarang [in Central Java), so we are very familiar with the recipe, lumpia Semarang [Semarang spring rolls]."
For former chef Nina "Teddie" Huynh, choosing a favourite bamboo shoot recipe is difficult because of the versatility of this vegetable.
Eating fresh or canned bamboo reminds me of delicious meals shared with my family so it remains a staple in our family year-round.
"There are so many recipes in Vietnamese cuisine - anything from stir-fries to curries," Huynh says.
When her grandparents became vegetarian in their older years, her family would make vegan-style chop suey with bamboo shoots and mushrooms, and serve it with fragrant jasmine rice.
"This is such a beautiful memory for me," she says.
These days, Huynh loves adding bamboo shoots to green curries and dumpling fillings.
Bamboo and yanang soup (keng no mai sai yanang). Source: Supplied
"Eating fresh or canned bamboo reminds me of delicious meals shared with my family so it remains a staple in our family year-round."
