Bamboo Preparation

Servings:

1 Servings

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When bamboo is cultivated for shoots, workers walk the fields barefoot,
heaping soil around those spots where their toes feel a slight rise in the
ground. The bulge heralds an emerging culm, which is kept covered as long
possible, sometimes with a wooden box, because when exposed it becomes fibr
in a short time. The shoot is harvested when about 1 foot tall, by digging
down and carefully severing it at the point where it joins the rhizome bear
it. Shoots are boiled a half hour or more and the outer sheaths removed.
They are white in color, with the look of a raw paotato, crisp in texture.
Shoots of almost any bamboo can be eaten. The principal genera used for
sprouts include Arundinaria, Bambusa, Dendrocalamus, and Phyllostachys.
Although the size is one limiting factor, even diminutive Sasa in Japan
provides some 600 tons of shoots annually.
In Taiwan P. edulis and D. latiflorus are used. In Japan P. moso and P edu
are used. Soft quality shoots require yearly soil dressing, straw litter a
farmyard manure..
A sprout properly dug will have a rooty, woody basal portin, increasing
sharply in diameter upwad for a short distance from the very slender part
which was attached to its rhizome, and then tapering to a point. With a
sharp paring knife cut lengthwise through the sheath only, from tip to base
the sprout. Beginning with the lowersheaths, remove all except the tender
ones at the tip. If there is a grayish layer (owing to age) next to the lo
nodes, pare this off. Remove the togh basal part. Cut the core portion
diagonally or crosswise into rather this slices. The lower, firmer portion
should be cut across the grain, not thicker than 1/8 inch, but the more ten
middle and upper parts may be sliced thicker or cut into varioyus shapes
according to the recipe. Sprouts may be served alone, drained, with butter
melted over them, after boiling for about twenty minutes. Salt is added ne
the end of the boiling period. If the fresh sprouts are unpleasantly bitte
to the taste there should be a change of water after the first ten minutes
cooking. The more pronounced bitterness of some of the tropical edible
bamboos (of the genus Bambusa and others) may be removed by a third change
water if the bamboo is not sliced too thicvk and a good volume of water is
used.

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---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Bamee Haeng (Spicy Egg Noodles)
Categories: Thailand, Pastas
Yield: 1 Servings

Stephen Ceideburg
3 oz Fresh whole egg noodles
-(bamee)
1 tb Garlic Oil (see recipe)
2 tb Fish sauce (nam pla), or to
-taste
2 tb Kwan's Sweet and Sour Sauce
-(see recipe)
Dried hot chile flakes, to
-taste
1 Handful bean sprouts
1/4 c Shredded barbecued pork,
-cooked chicken, beef or
-shrimp
Chopped green onions for
-garnish
Fresh coriander leaves
1 ts Ground peanuts

Whole egg noodles may be purchased in Asian markets (they are labeled "egg
wonton-style noodles"). Serve this dish for breakfast, lunch or as a snack
or as a side dish in a Western- style meal. The ancillary recipes are in
the next post.

Plunge noodles into a pot of boiling water for 4 or 5 seconds. Remove and
plunge into cold water for 4 or 5 seconds. Return to boiling water for 4 or
5 seconds; drain. Pour noodles into a bowl. Add garlic oil, fish sauce,
sweet and sour sauce and dried chile flakes (if you like it hot).

Dip bean sprouts quickly into boiling water; drain. Add to noodles. Add one
or more of the cooked meats. Top with green onions, coriander and ground
peanuts.

Note: This recipe is a version served by street noodles vendors in
Thailand. Seasonings may be adjusted to your taste.

PER SERVING: 575 calories, 19 g protein, 60 g carbohydrate, 26 g fat (6 g
saturated), 82 mg cholesterol, 2,840 mg sodium, 2 g fiber.

From an article by Joyce Jue in the San Francisco Chronicle, 5/29/91.

File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/mmdja006.zip