Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients
Bamboo shoots are the edible shoots (new bamboo culms that come out of the ground) of the bamboo species Bambusa vulgaris and Phyllostachys edulis. They are used in numerous Asian dishes and broths, and are available in supermarkets in various sliced forms, both fresh and canned versions.
In Indonesia, they are sliced thinly to be boiled with coconut milk and spices to make a dish named gulai rebung. Other recipes using bamboo shoots are sayur lodeh (mixed vegetables in coconut milk) and lun pia: fried wrapped bamboo shoots with vegetables). Note that the shoots of some species contain cyanide that need to be leached or boiled out before they can be eaten safely. Slicing the bamboo shoots thinly assists in this leaching.
Pickled bamboo, used as a condiment, may also be made from the pith of the young shoots.
In India, bamboo shoots are part of the traditional cuisine, used in a wide variety of dishes - among which are iromba, ooti and kangshu ar eto.
In Nepal, they are used in dishes, which have been well-known in Nepal for centuries. A popular dish is Tama (fermented), with आलु (Potato), बोडी (Beans). In Vietnamese cuisine, shredded bamboo shoots are used alone or with other vegetable in many stir-fried vegetable dishes. It may also be used as the sole vegetable ingredient in pork chop soup.
In Philippine cuisine, they are called "Labong". Two most popular dish for this is the "Ginataang Labong" (labong with coconut milk and chilies) and "Dinengdeng na Labong" (labong in fish bagoong with string beans, saluyot, and tinapa).