June 24, 2015

Sibu Tales : Dried Bamboo Shoots

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Dried bamboo shoots ready for delivery to Fuzhou City.
Dried bamboo shoots can be bought from the Chinese Medicine shop. The rehydrated dried bamboo shoots can be bought from the vendors in the Wet Market.

Dried bamboo shoot is not available throughout the year in Sibu and some years, the shipment just did not arrive. In Foochow this is called "Dong Chi" or breaking of market.

The photos show the spring sweet yellow bamboo shoots. Another kind of bigger bamboo shoot is fairly big in size and one portion is as heavy as 2 kg.

My maternal grandmother was a good provider. Whenever she came to Sibu she would purchase enough food for my Third Uncle's family especially after she sold some smoked rubber sheets. She was kind of purchaser of the family. My Third Uncle was not a man to spend time having a R and R in town, sitting in the coffee shop. So it was my grandmother who would come to town, do the buying of supplies etc. Sometimes neigbhours would also request her to get a list of their stuff.

After soaking the bamboo shoots for a few days, my third uncle would stir fry the bamboo shoots, some for meals, and some for fillings of baos.


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Later. many of us learned how to fry the bamboo shoots, add chillies and lots of onions and vinegar. This became a kind of pickle we could keep in the refrigerator for quite a long time. Whenever we needed an extra condiment or side dish, we would take a small bowl of this "pickled" bamboo shoots out for a good evening meal. We would say there was plenty to "bite" and "chew". In Foochow it is "jin wu noh gar".

The aroma of cooking bamboo shoots is nostalgic.

What wonderful memories.





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