Mala Winter Bamboo Shoots
A Zhejiang dish featuring crisp-tender winter bamboo shoots with a spicy, numbing flavor.
Ingredients
net winter bamboo shoots (cut into 4 cm long, 1 cm wide strips)
400 g
red chili pepper (minced)
1
green vegetables
100 g
fine salt (the original lists this twice; counted once)
3.5 g
MSG
2.5 g
sesame paste (thinned with water)
10 g
mala chili oil
6 g
rendered pork lard (about 100 g actually consumed)
750 g
Instructions
1
Prep
Cut the bamboo shoots into 4 cm long, 1 cm wide strips. Mince the red chili.
2
Nurture the bamboo shoots
Place a wok over medium heat, add the pork lard and heat to roughly 30% hot (about 66°C). Add the bamboo shoots and gently "nurture" them for about 5 minutes, then remove and set aside.
3
Stir and simmer
Leave a little oil in the wok, return the bamboo shoots, and add the minced red chili; stir briefly. Add 3 g of salt and 150 ml of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low and simmer for about 3 minutes, until roughly one-third of the liquid remains. Stir in the thinned sesame paste and 2 g of MSG, toss the wok, and pile the bamboo shoots in the center of a serving plate.
4
Finish the side vegetables
In a separate wok over the heat, add 15 g of pork lard. Add the green vegetables and season with 0.5 g of salt and 0.5 g of MSG; stir-fry briefly just until cooked. Drain off the cooking liquid, arrange the greens on either side of the bamboo shoots, and drizzle the mala chili oil over the top to serve.
