One of the Chinese vegetables on my list that I wanted to try this year is wild rice shoot (also called water bamboo) or 膠筍 gâau-séun (glue/gum-shoot) in Cantonese or jiao1 bai2 茭白 in Mandarin.
Note: Wild rice shoot are different than bamboo shoots.
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Fresh wild rice shoots
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I tried wild rice shoots in restaurants but it is only recently, for the first time, that I selected wild rice shoots from a stall at the wet market to cook at home. It is not that I had never seen this plant before – on the contrary – but for no particular reason at all I had never purchased it. What a shame. I guess it is very simple to fall in the trap of buying the most common veggies, such as Chinese flowering cabbage - choi-sam (which I don’t particularly like) or Chinese white cabbage - baahk-choi.
Now that I know that wild rice shoots are very easy to cook and delicious I will no longer ignore them and they will be included in my menus.
The seller told me that I could either steam or stir-fry the young shoots with pork slices. However once at home I decided to sauté them without adding any meat. I wanted to make a very light dish so as to taste the true flavour of the veggie.
Stir-fried wild rice shoots
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Stir-fried wild rice shoots
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Ingredients:
~1 catty of wild rice shoots
1 slice ginger, crushed
1 red chilli, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
2 Tbsp water
Ground white pepper
2 Tbsp spring onion, chopped (garnish)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (grape seed)
Steps:
Prepare shoots. Remove outer layers (all the green part) leaving only the white flesh. Trim end. Wash, drain and cut in ½ cm lengths*.
Heat oil in wok and add ginger, red and green chilli. Stir for 1 minute over high heat.
Add veggie. Stir for a while, and add sauces mixed with water.
Stir-fry for another 4-5 minutes (or until tender).
Turn off heat. Add white pepper and chopped spring onion; mix well.
Transfer veggie to a serving plate and serve very hot.
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| Wild rice shoots sprinkled with chopped spring onion |
* I cut the stem in ½ cm lengths. In the dishes I tried before in restaurants the shoots were cut into large pieces and then in half – lengthwise – and finally sliced super thin.
I like the mild taste and the tender-crispy texture of the shoots. They are tender and blander than bamboo shoots. I have since stir-fried wild rice shoots with shredded pork. This was very tasty but I prefer the way I cooked them the first time (vegetarian style). I enjoy light dishes which get a flavour lift from chilli and ginger without overpowering the veggies.
Ah! For an even lighter dish I have yet to try to steam them!
