You can enjoy the distinct flavour of bamboo shoots in this dish, Rice with Bamboo Shoots (Takenoko Gohan). To preserve the delicate flavour of bamboo shoots, I simply cook them with rice in a lightly flavoured dashi stock. It is so simple to make. Use konbu dashi to make this vegetarian dish.
Cut whole bamboo shoots vertically in half, then cut each half into blocks about 3cm (1¼") wide perpendicular to the first cut. Slice each block vertically to 5 mm thick.
Marinate takenoko slices in the Bamboo Shoots Marinade for 10 minutes. Drain.
Pour boiling water over aburaage to remove excess oil, then squeeze water out. Finely chop aburaage into 5mm square pieces.
1. You can buy aburaage from Japanese/Asian grocery stores, they are usually sold frozen. More details about aburaage can be found in my post, Shimeji Gohan.
2. You can buy vacuum sealed boiled bamboo shoots from Japanese grocery stores. These bamboo shoots are very tender and suitable for cooking with rice.
Alternatively, you can use canned boiled bamboo shoots that are available at Asian grocery stores or possibly in supermarkets. They are a bit tougher and stringy. So, if you are using canned bamboo shoots, I would suggest that you slice the bamboo shoots into smaller pieces.
3. I used light soy sauce to maintain the delicate pale colour of the bamboo shoots. But you can use normal soy sauce instead. Dark soy sauce is not suited for this.
4. If you are a vegetarian, please use konbu to make dashi stock, which is described in Varieties of Dashi Stock.
The amount of dashi stock required may be different if you are using a rice cooker. Please follow the instructions of the rice cooker. Dashi stock + sake + soy sauce should match with the required amount of water.