Nature's Celestial Gift - Bamboo Shoots

       Taste this, it is sweet and delicious,"my friend Lak urged me as he handed me an enamelled plate with a couple of pale golden bamboo shoots. Lak called them noh mai rai . I had returned to Thailand for a brief stay to manage the cooking academy I founded in Mae Rim.
       Lak, a gardener for the huge grounds of the cooking academy, is one of my best cooking and eating buddies.
       Knowing that I am passionate about learning and savouring local and seasonal treats,he had gotten these delicate shoots from a relative of another gardener, who harvested them from the forest for me.
       I wondered to myself: how can bamboo shoots be described as sweet? I have had plenty of bamboo shoots in my lifetime, both freshly cooked and canned, and I never would have described them as being sweet. The ones on the plate were each sliced lengthwise into quarters with the base still intact. I lifted one of the pieces; it broke off easily from the clump. Just as Lak said, it was not only sweet but also tasted delicate, buttery and tender.
       Noh mai rai or pai thong (Dendrocalamus asper Back) is one of several varieties of bamboo shoots harvested from the forests in northern Thailand during the rainy season fromMay to October. The villagers consider this time of year as being inhabited by "tep tida doi - nong nang baan na"or "celestial beings from the mountain", meaning bamboo shoots, and "young woman from farming village" meaning baby crab.
       These two delicacies are known as special rainy season treats. They are either cooked together or separately, but often served together.
       The bamboo shoot forager, Leang, is typical of many villagers whose livelihood during these months depends on the harvest of bamboo shoots. She got up early every morn-ing and rode off on her motorbike with two large burlap bags and a couple of shovels,heading up towards the mountain and deep into the forest.
       Leang braved being bitten by mosquitoes,bugs and snakes, as she searched for, dug and harvested these tender shoots growing in clumps at the base of dense bamboo groves.After the bags were bulging with shoots, Leang would ride back home where her mother sliced and cleaned the shoots for boiling.
       The shoots were lined up and packed tightly in the pattern of a sundial in a large oil drum set on top of wooden logs. Water was added to the brim and logs were set on fire underneath. Once the water began to boil, her father, Gid, covered the top with a couple of old empty plastic rice bags.
       These, Gid explained, are never washed after being used. Acid seeps out from the bamboo shoots and into the fabric during the repeated boiling process, adding kem , or a salty taste, to the shoots, thus turning them sweet. Gid closed up the oil drum with a wooden lid and left the bamboo shoots to boil for the next four to five hours until they were cooked. He removed the shoots immediately into a large basin filled with cool water and let them soak. Then they were ready to be sold to vendors in the wet markets in town.
       For the following three weeks, Lak would cook one recipe after another, all using bamboo shoots and/or tiny field crabs. There would always be at least one or two accompanying dishes made with curious wild shoots,greens or blooms that I happened to see and buy from the wet market at Mae Rim.
       We feasted on gaeng gai noh mai -a spicy free range chicken and bamboo shoot soup with a beautiful orange hue broth coloured by turmeric and scented with several cupfuls of holy basil. There was naem noh mai - pickled mashed bamboo shoots with its smooth and buttery texture seasoned with a perfect balance of salty, sour and pickle flavours, tinged with a surprisingly spicy garlicky kick. This was supposed to be eaten with warm sticky rice balls. I ate it alone by scooping a couple of fingers full at a time.The stuff was addictive.
       We also had yum noh mai , or bamboo shoot salad perfumed with herbal young ginger leaves, saw-tooth herbs and crab chili paste. Lak made another variety of spicy soup, typically served during rainy season,that is believed to cure fevers.
       He harvested fresh bamboo shoots from the groves growing in the garden and cooked them in a green and bitter liquid that smelled like freshly mowed grass. It came from medicinal leaves called bai yah nang . He seasoned the soup with the all-purpose northern Thai chili paste made with chilies, garlic, shallots,lemongrass, galangal, shrimp paste and fermented fish. He also added heaps of krachai , or Chinese Keys rhizome, roasted garlic, roasted shallots and roasted chilies.
       As a surprise during one of our bamboo shoot dinners, Lak brought out a small plate with four little crab shells containing some yellow custard-like substance. He told me to take a bit of warm sticky rice, shaped into a ball, and dip it into the yellow custard. The instant I put it in my mouth the musty scent of the wet, rain-soaked earth rose up to my nostrils. Its creamy texture was salty and slightly peppery. Lak told me this precious cream is the crab's tomalley, or as the Thais call it mun pu , which literary translates as crab's oil or cream. It is patiently extracted from hundreds of tiny field crabs and seasoned with salt, garlic, and chilies and steamed.Some vendors add eggs to the mixture to dilute the crab tomalley, thus increasing the volume they can sell of this precious extract.
       One of the best bamboo shoot dishes Lak made was stuffed bamboo shoots. He shredded the centre portions with a bamboo skewer before stuffing it with a mixture of minced pork and shrimp.
       These lacy golden stalks were deep-fried until the water evaporated, turning them crispy and reddish brown.
       I never tired of eating dish after dish made with bamboo shoots. Jokingly, I told a friend that after so much bamboo shoot in my system, he could very well use me to build one of his designer chairs.
       Oddly, my remark is not too far from the health benefits provided by bamboo shoots.The fibrous texture is considered to be cooling for the body, good for the digestive tracts,nurturing for the circulatory system and eases excessive phlegm. All of which strengthens our body and keeps us strong and healthy.
       Lak's introduction of noh mai rai has forever changed my idea of bamboo shoots.Back in America, I can't imagine cooking or eating canned or bottled bamboo shoots.Even fresh imported ones from Japan or China, with a tough, grainy and fibrous texture,that I once considered to be a delicacy, cannot hold a candle to noh mai rai .I will have to wait until next rainy season to return to northern Thailand and continue my feasting on Lak's delectable home cooking with noh mai rai .m
       Su-Mei Yu is an author of Thai cookbooks, including the award winning, Cracking The Coconut: Classic Thai Home Cooking, Asian Grilling, and to be released this month, The Elements Of Life, A Contemporary Guide To Thai Recipes And Traditions For Healthier Living.
       Gaeng Gai Noh Mai Rai Aromatic Soup with Chicken and Bamboo Shoots Makes 4 servings Ingredients for chili paste: Makes 1cup 14tsp 53 to 4 slices 10 7cm
       42.5cm 1 tsp 1 tsp salt cloves garlic, peeled (1 tbsp)peeled galangal (1 tbsp)dried chilies, minced (11
       2tbsp)lemongrass bulb, thinly sliced (2 tbsp)small shallots (2 tbsp)peeled turmeric (1 tbsp)shrimp paste fermented fish paste (pla lah) Preparation:
       Put the salt and garlic in a mortar and pound with a pestle to a puree. Add the remaining ingredients; one at a time and only after each has been incorporated into the paste. Finish with shrimp paste and fermented fish paste. Set aside. Ingredients: 11
       2tbsp chili paste 450g 3 cups 2 cups 2 tablespoons 3 to 4 2 cups cooking oil (preferably rice bran oil)bite-sized pieces free range chicken water fresh or boiled bamboo shoot chunks, slightly pounded fish sauce kaffir lime leaves tightly packed holy basil leaves
       Preparation:
       Put the oil in a saucepan over a medium low heat. Wait for a minute before adding the chili paste. Stir-fry quickly until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add the chicken pieces and stir-fry to coat them with the chili paste.
       When the chicken has turned slightly brown,add the water to completely cover it. Stir to mix.Once the liquid comes to the boil, add the bamboo shoots. Cook under a medium low heat for 30 minutes or until both the chicken and bamboo shoots are tender. Season with fish sauce and stir to mix. Add the kaffir lime leaves. Let it cook for another 20 minutes. Just before serving, add the holy basil leaves, stir to mix. Serve warm with cooked red organic rice.