Dried bamboo shoots cooked with duck

My hometown is Ban Rua, a small Tay village in Hoa Phu commune, Chiem Hoa district, Tuyen Quang province.

In my village, the mountains and forests are vast, especially the bamboo forests. Since ancient times, the villagers have used bamboo shoots as a popular food because they can be processed into many different dishes such as fish soup, stir-fried with garlic, stewed with bones, boiled with fermented rice or field fish sauce...

Every year, when the rainy season comes, my sisters and I go into the forest to pick bamboo shoots. Usually, the bamboo shoots we pick, no matter how much or how little, are not sold, but are eaten fresh, the rest is dried. In my hometown, dried bamboo shoots are a specialty.

The bamboo shoots used to make dried bamboo shoots are usually mai bamboo shoots. The bamboo shoots taken from the forest will be boiled, while boiling, add a little salt to remove the pungent taste. In addition, my mother always opens the lid to remove the toxic substances in the bamboo shoots. After boiling for about 30 to 45 minutes, take the bamboo shoots out and shred them into small pieces. This step is quite hard work, requiring meticulousness because the thinner the bamboo shoots are shredded, the faster they dry and the more delicious they will be.

Next, put the stripped bamboo shoots into a cloth bag or a clean bag to squeeze the juice. This step is very important and directly affects the quality of the bamboo shoots. The object placed on the bamboo shoot bag must be heavy enough to squeeze the juice out of the bamboo shoots and create an anaerobic environment (lack of oxygen) inside the bag.

The process of pressing bamboo shoots can last up to 2 days, because if the pressing time is too short, the bamboo shoots will not have time to drain, the color of the bamboo shoots after drying will not be beautiful yellow. If the pressing time is too long, the bamboo shoots will turn sour due to harmful microorganisms spoiling them.

After the bamboo shoots have been pressed for enough time, they are dried in the sun on trays. After drying in the sun for one day, use your hands to knead the bamboo shoots to make them curlier and more beautiful. A batch of dried bamboo shoots needs about 2-3 days of sun. The dried bamboo shoots are stored in sealed plastic bags, avoiding direct sunlight, so that the bamboo shoots can be kept longer.

Dried bamboo shoots can be made into many different dishes, but one of my favorite dishes is dried bamboo shoots soup with duck.

To make dried bamboo shoots with duck, the first step is to boil the duck. My mother's secret to boiling delicious duck is to add a little salt and Vietnamese coriander to the water. While boiling the duck, the dried bamboo shoots are also boiled in another pot for about 10 minutes until soft, then removed and washed with cold water to make the bamboo shoots crispy.

After boiling the duck, leave the head, legs, and wings to cook with the bamboo shoots, and chop the body into bite-sized pieces. Add the boiled bamboo shoots to the pot of duck broth, boil for about 20-30 minutes, season to taste, then scoop into a bowl and sprinkle with Vietnamese coriander on top.

The seasonings for dipping boiled duck meat of the people in my village are also very special, including bamboo shoots, chili, doi seeds, salt, and MSG. The aroma of grilled doi seeds, the spiciness of chili, the sourness of bamboo shoots, the saltiness of salt, and the sweetness of MSG create a dipping sauce that can only be found in the northern mountainous regions like my hometown.

Dried bamboo shoots and duck rice tray

As for the duck bamboo shoot soup, its flavor is hard to describe, the sweetness of the bamboo shoots blends with the duck broth to create a bowl of soup rich in flavor. The bamboo shoots are thin, soft but not mushy, chewy enough, crunchy enough and fragrant with the scent of the mountain sunshine. Especially in the last months of the year, when the monsoon winds blow, in the freezing cold, there is nothing better than a hot bowl of duck bamboo shoot soup.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/diem-den-hap-dan/mang-roi-kho-nau-vit-20201210213809709.htm