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Serves 6
Ingredients
300 g (11 oz) bamboo shoots, cut into small chunks
*250 g (9 oz) pork chops or spareribs, chopped into 5 cm (2")
pieces
5 cups water
I cup of chicken stock
Salt to taste
Method
- Place bamboo in a pot with plenty of water, bring to boil,
simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Taste bamboo; if bitter,
replace water and boil for a further 10 minutes.
- Blanch pork to remove fatty odour. Pour out water and
clean pot.
- Add 5 cups of water and stock to pot, bring to boil.
- Add pork and cook for 10 minutes.
- Drain bamboo and add to pork.
- Salt if necessary
- Simmer for 30 minutes.
Notes
This dish is preferably made from fresh, raw shoots. Most commonly Taiwanese
use shoots from one of the largest varieties of bamboo in the world – Taiwan
giant bamboo. But any fresh shoots will do. If you cannot source the fresh
article, use canned, but as these are normally pre-cooked, the flavour will
be weaker. If you use other preserved shoots, rinse them before use, as they
may be very salty or sour.
*You may need your butcher to do this.
Warning Some
species of bamboo contain a naturally occurring toxin called
hydrocyanic acid (prussic acid). To put it bluntly, this
bitter substance contains cyanide – safe if leached out using
the method described above (1). Do this for all fresh bamboo
to be on the safe-side. Canned or other kinds of preserved
bamboo should already be treated. |
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