Stir Fry Bamboo and Mushrooms | 炒二冬 | 冬筍炒冬菇

Well, here is something that I have in common with the Chinese panda.  (Besides the both of us being fluffy and adorable that is.)  It turns out that we both love to eat bamboo!  

I recently happened upon this photo of Wang Wang the panda, contentedly chewing on his lovely sprig of bamboo and thought: Wow, I'm hungry!  That's when I knew it was time to make this lovely dish for our dinner: Stir Fry Bamboo and Mushrooms (冬筍炒冬菇), also sometimes called Stir Fry Two Winters (炒二冬).  (This is due to the Chinese character for winter (冬) which you can see shows up twice in the name!)  

This traditional Hangzhou 杭州 vegetarian dish is made with tender winter bamboo shoots and the delicious shitake mushroom.  Easy peasy and yummy too!  I bet Wang Wang the panda would like it as much as we do!

Handmade Bamboo Steamer 手作竹蒸籠

Have I mentioned that we love bamboo?  Yes...well, let me say it again anyways:  We love bamboo!  Slowly but surely we have switched over to bamboo for most of the cooking utensils for our little kitchen, at least all those that are available in bamboo.  Our chopping boards, our spatulas, our chopsticks, our steamers...

A strong, light, durable, inexpensive, mold resistant (much more so than wood!), heat resistant, wildly beautiful material, bamboo's use in Chinese cooking is crowned by this: the wonderful fragrance and taste it subtly infuses when you cook with it!  Once you've tried it there's no going back, you'll be hooked.  Recently, in need of new bamboo steamers, we decided to make a little pilgrimage and procure ourselves a true Hong Kong handmade bamboo steamer!