Steamed Bamboo Pith Rolls

I was in Chinatown recently with my friend, EL, with the intention of trying out my new Canon 17-40L lens, while looking around for stuff to add on to my kitchen collection. I was snapping some photos in a chinese medicine hall when I saw bags of bamboo pith on a rack.

Bamboo pith (竹笙) is an ingredient that my mom used to stir-fry with vegetable, but I've never try to cook it before. So I bought a bag to try it out.


Bamboo pith is usually sold in dry form, and when cooked, it has a crunchy and earthy flavour. I used it to make Steamed Bamboo Pith Rolls. The recipe was taken from Just Roll Up, a book that is published by Famous Cuisine in Malaysia.

Other than bamboo pith, I also used a few other ingredients such as dry mushroom, white fungus and wolfberry, which are commonly used in chinese cooking.


The end result was a yummy dish that looks like this:

Steamed Bamboo Pith Rolls Recipe
(Recipe adapted from Just Roll Up)

Ingredients 1:
6-7 bamboo pith
5 dry mushrooms
30g carrot strips
30g celery strips
30g enoki mushrooms
50g bacon strips

Ingredients 2:
5g white fungus (soaked, cut small)
1 tbsp wolfberry
250ml chicken stock

Seasoning:
Salt & pepper, to taste
1/2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
Cornstarch solution (1 tbsp cornstarch with 2 tbsp of water)

Method:
1) Soak the bamboo pith until soften. Cut off both edges, rinse and drained.
2) Stuff 1 strip each of celery, dry mushroom, enoki mushroom, carrot and bacon into the bamboo pith. Repeat the step until all ingredients are used up.
3) Steam the rolls in the pre-heated steamer for 6 minutes, remove and set aside.
4) Cook the chicken broth and seasoning until boiling, add in white fungus and wolfberry, cook for a while. Lastly, thicken with the cornstarch solution. Remove, pour over the bamboo pith rolls, serve.

Comments

Edith said…
wow restaurant standard!!!! impressive.
Rasa Malaysia said…
What camera do you have and how's your new lens? I just bought a Canon 350D and a new 50mm lens, which I have yet to really use.
Piggy said…
hi bee yinn,

I have a canon 350D too! I use a 50mm lens for all my food photos. As for the 17-40mm L lens, I hardly use it, it's quite heavy to carry it around..., but it really gives amazing results. :-)