Grilled bamboo shoots with unagi bbq sauce

  By jason toner  

September 2, 2014

Try this super-simple maximum impact bamboo recipe. Ridiculicious!

  • Cook: 1 hr 30 mins
  • Yields: Serves 4

Ingredients

1 whole fresh Bamboo shoot (or 400g ready prepared store bought)

30g rice bran(or 50g japanese rice)

Water-enough to cover bamboo and 2% of the water weight in sea salt

Dash of Togarashi

For the bbq sauce;

100g unagi sauce

25g mirin

20g sake

10g shaved ginger

Directions

1You picked yourself a heavy , healthy looking bamboo shoot from the farmers market or side of the road ba-chan makeshift store.

2Large pot at the ready, peel all outer layers off your shoot and rinse. Next cover with plenty of water as it will be boiling for over 90 minutes perhaps even longer depending on natural factors. Add your 2%salt and a dash of togarashi then cover and boil until tender then chill as quickly as possible then slice around 400g worth of bamboo, cutting all the way round 10cm at a time (think orange segments)

3For the sauce that you will brush onto the shoots whilst grilling(tare) simply whisk together.

4When you are ready to grill, get some good char on your shoots, continually brushing with your tare which will create depth of flavor and balance from the bitter char and sweet sauce.

5Depending on how raging your charcoal inferno is, this should be quick.

6Enjoy as appetizer/snack with drinks.

If you cannot acquire the real thing you may save a lot of time on the cooking and cooling process by purchasing a vacuum packed shoot but you will also lose out on the dynamic nuances of the natural product so try to get the real thing and don't consider the canned product.
If you cannot grill, a super hot dry frying pan will work.

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