Vegan creamy bamboo shoot soup/ Kanile coconut milk soup

It is winter & weather is unpredictable each day! Craving for some piping hot thick creamy soup for winter evening! Today I am sharing a recipe of creamy soup with bamboo shoot or bamboo sprout. Bamboo shoot is being used highly in Chinese and Japanese cuisines whereas in India we use only during rainy season that too specific communities and specific location not all over the country as I understand. Though it has mild bitterness, it makes delicious dishes such as stirfry, curry, pickles & more..  We call it as Kanile in Kannada, which is known to be nutritionally rich and slightly heat to the body. So eating it in moderate level is good.

I made a creamy soup with it using milk about an year back or 2! Though it tasted good & liked by me & my husband, somehow combination of milk + salt and bamboo shoot did not sound good to me as I am a follower of Ayurvedic lifestyle to some extent! So preparing it with coconut milk & making it vegan was in my to-do for long time. Hurray, did it and it was a big hit at home!

You can make it with precooked bamboo shoot or fresh, I did with fresh one as I have a bamboo bush in my garden and it produces sprouts as & when needed.. Sounds funny!? Ha ha, that is when we water the plant! I have not tried with salted!

Refer Process of Cleaning & cooking freshbamboo shoot for getting precooked bamboo shoot! Find Extracting coconut milk post here!

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

Bamboo shoot – 1 small/ 1 cup roughly chopped pieces

Fresh/ canned coconut milk – 1 cup

Salt - to taste

Pepper – ½ tsp, adjust to required spice level

Cumin powder – ¼ tsp

White rice – 2 tbsp

Sugar – 1-2 tsp

Corn flour – 1 tsp (optional)

Chilli flakes - for garnishing

Method:

• Clean bamboo shoots by removing outer hairy skins (if using fresh) & remove and discard hard nodes.. Chop roughly or slice thinly & boil with water well for 2 times and discard boiled water (I follow this procedure which helps in reducing bitterness). Check my post Process of Cleaning& cooking fresh bamboo shoot for details.
• Now take the above boiled bamboo shoot in a vessel with enough water to cover & cook. Add 2 tbsp washed rice to it. You can use a pressure cooker to cook as well. I cooked in a pressure cooker.
• Cook for 3 whistles if using pressure cooker. It will take 20 minutes to cook if using a open vessel to cook till soft.
• Allow cooling.
• Meanwhile, extract coconut milk if making it from the scratch or keep it ready.
• When bamboo shoot is cooled & ready, take out few slices (6-7) for garnishing and take remaining in a mixer jar. Add little water or coconut milk and blend to make smooth paste.
• Take this ground kanile/ bamboo sprout paste in a thick bottomed vessel or pan. Add salt, ground pepper (powder), cumin powder, Sugar and bring to boil.
• Add coconut milk Boil well. If soup looks very thin, then add a tsp corn flour in 2 tbsp water, dissolve and add to boiling soup.
• Switch off on boiling.
• Garnish with chilli flakes & reserved slices of bamboo shoots and serve hot soup.

Notes:

• You can add milk instead coconut milk, I prefer coconut milk.
• You can add your choice of spices/ herbs such as Italian seasoning of mixed herbs.
• Instead of rice, you can use rice flour dissolved in water while boiling soup. You can avoid corn flour in this case.
• This soup has mild bitterness in taste, still it tastes great..