Visit to Minqing : Bamboo Shoots

 

Mee Hoon with Bamboo Shoots served by relatives in Minqing, Fujian. (Photo by Ling Chin Tchin)

Bamboo shoots are the most common but very special product of Minqing. My ancestors picked bamboo shoots and sold them in the fresh and dried forms.

A special dish we had, when my relatives and I visited Fujian,  in Minqing was the mee hoon soup with bamboo shoots.

Bamboo shoots thoughts bring to my mind many things especially during Chinese New Year because recently, dried bamboo shoots are again available in the shops in Sarawak. For a while, Malaysia stopped the importation of the product. 

My grandmother aka ngie mah used to make very good vegetable baos with bamboo shoot fillings. She would get up early in the morning and made small neat baos after the dough had risen. then she would steam the baos in the huge Chinese kuali. By the time my cousins were ready for rubber tapping or early morning school, her baos would be ready. These baos were the best I had ever eaten and I do miss the special taste. 

She would rehydrate the bamboo shoots for many days. There were two types of dried bamboo shoots - the yellow natural ones and the black smoked ones. And we all preferred the smoked ones which looked a little black. In the olden days according to my grandmother meat was scarce and bamboo shoots were considered a meat substitute. And so was mushroom.

Besides when Chinese New Year in the olden days was near, my mother would buy from Tai Kiong and soak the bamboo shoots for every one. They made very good Chinese New Year gifts. My grandmother would then enjoy eating the stir fried rehydrated bamboo shoots with belly pork. Another dish with rehydrated bamboo shoots would be the special sea cucumber soup, bamboo shoot slices and lots of special wine and black vinegar.

As kids we could never have enough of the delicacy which we ate only during the Chinese New Year.

Today with greater affluence, and a lot of ready made food for take away, do not appreciate the lengthy food preparation our pioneering grandmothers and mothers made. 

I would say it was a delight to see dried bamboo shoots in the market and the joy of waiting for the bamboo shoots to be softened and made into dishes we would like to have for Chinese New Year!!

But it would be best to eat all those lovely bamboo shoot dishes with our relatives in Minqing, be it in a simple rustic home in the village or in a big restaurant in Minqing town. I had some very lovely bamboo shoot dishes at roadside stalls even when I visited.

There is so much to remember!!