In which I take cues from a can

Chaosansi may be more familiar to you from a can: a crunchy, spicy mix of bamboo shoot, shiitake mushroom, and pork. My father loves the stuff. Give him a bowl of steaming congee to go with it and he’s a happy camper.

According to this, chaosansi is basically a stir-fry (chao) of any three (san) ingredients that have been cut into strips (si). Apparently, you can use some other vegetable instead of bamboo shoot, never mind how heretical that sounds. But let’s not go there. Bamboo’s what I’ve got. Lots of it.

It’s not very often that I get hold of fresh bamboo shoot, much less several whole specimens. The kind sold in the market is usually pre-cut and already parboiled (possibly more than once to get rid of the bitterness). Not that I’ve seen it in that setting. I’ve met exactly one bamboo shoot vendor in my life, and she was out of bamboo shoot. At six in the morning. Either business is that brisk, or supply that limited. Or maybe bamboo shoot vendors are averse to sunlight. Whatever.

Luckily for me, Kap showed up the other day with a bag of peeled whole ubod. The wet weather of late has resulted in a bumper crop of bamboo shoots. That means I shouldn’t have any problem finding the stuff in the near future. Unfortunately for that vendor, the only trip I need to make would take me no farther than the freezer. It’s panda heaven in there right now.

I’ve tried replicating chaosansi before, to mixed results. This time, I was too busy slicing the bamboo and forgot to defrost some meat; I tried to make up for that by using a whole can of button mushrooms, although the finished dish looked like it could have used more. For spice, lots of sliced red onions, some minced garlic, and chopped red chilies. A splash of Chinese cooking wine, a pinch of sugar, and salt to taste.

A note on the oil and salt: you will end up using more than you think you would. I must have put in 6-8 tablespoons (roughly half a cup!) of corn oil because the onions and shoots just kept absorbing it like it was nobody’s business. That’s on top of the tablespoon or so of chili oil I drizzled onto the finished dish. As for the salt, you can start with the fact that bamboo has more crunch than taste (save for the bitterness, which you don’t want anyway); just when you think you have added enough salt, it turns out you haven’t. Keep that in mind the next time you reach for a can of chaosansi.

Strictly speaking, of course, it wasn’t chaosansi that I made — I only had two ingredients. Not that my father missed the pork; his only complaint was that the dish was too spicy. It certainly looked like it could pass for… wait — pass for what, exactly? Shoot. Do I even know what real chaosansi looks — much less tastes — like? Since when did I look for authenticity in a can anyway? Now there’s food for thought.

Spicy Stir-Fried Bamboo Shoot

Authentic or not, this recipe is a keeper. You can add pork or any meat of your choice; I prefer to keep it strictly vegetarian as the mushrooms already lend enough umami to the dish.

• 3 cups julienned bamboo shoot, parboiled
• ½ cup mushrooms, sliced
• 3 medium red onions, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 red finger chilies, chopped


• 4-6 tablespoons oil (add more if too dry)
• splash of Chinese cooking wine
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• salt, to taste
• chili oil, to drizzle (optional)

1. Heat oil in wok until smoking. Add onions and sauté until soft and translucent. Move to one side of the pan before adding garlic, then, after 30 seconds, chili.
2. Put in mushrooms and stir for 2 minutes, then add the bamboo shoots. Mix well. Stir occasionally for 3 to 5 minutes, or until excess water from the shoots has evaporated.
3. Add Chinese cooking wine and sugar. Salt to taste. Keep stirring to make sure the flavor is well distributed, about 5 more minutes.
4. Drizzle with chili oil (optional) and serve hot.