What's a good recipe for menma?

December 21, 2006 11:32 AM

JapaneseFoodFilter: Help me make menma!

I've been trying to make my own menma (seasoned bamboo shoots for ramen and such) but have had limited success -- the only recipe I've found so far has been on recipezaar.com and in all honesty it sucked (though this may have been at least partially due to using "cooking sake" instead of the real thing). If anyone knows or could point me to a decent recipe for it (in English or Japanese), I'd much appreciate it.

posted by DoctorFedora to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

Was the sake you used the kind of cooking sake with added salt? If so, that's probably why the recipe didn't work out.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:12 PM on December 21, 2006

I stumbled upon a patch of young bamboo once on a hike in Japan and took them home to do this. Luckily, I had actual japanese people around to coach me. I don't recall ever using sake - just boiling and adding salt (sea salt, if available). Here's a snip from something I found on E2 that sounds like what we did (except I only boiled it once for a really long time, then chilled it in the brine overnight):

Firstly, the husk needs to be removed. Using a small sharp knife, peel away the layers until you have reached the pale yellow shoot. Trim away the base and any fibrous sections. Lay the shoot on a chopping board horizontally and using a large sharp cooks knife, cut the shoot into thin (5 mm) slices running from tip to base. If these slices are especially long you may want to cut them into more manageable lengths. Place the slices into a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the water to the boil, then drain away the liquid. Repeat this procedure twice, but on the third boil add a generous pinch of sea salt to the cold water. Once they have come to the boil for the third time, allow them to cool in the liquid, but don't drain it away. This is the brine that the shoots will be stored in. They will last, covered in the refrigerator for up to one week.

I hope this works for you and you get the taste you're looking for.
posted by krippledkonscious at 12:53 PM on December 21, 2006

Response by poster: I probably should have pointed out that I'm using dried-and-salted shoots, which I've reconstituted with a great deal of water (to get the salt out). Also, the cooking sake I used was Morita brand (green PET bottle), which DOES appear to have added salt.
posted by DoctorFedora at 1:08 PM on December 21, 2006

Huh. Sorry, I'm taking for granted that I live where access to the fresh stuff is possible; I've never tried using dried menma... not to mention dried and salted. What happens after you've rehydrated? Is it inedible by itself? I'm guessing that dried and salted menma is supposed to be used in sukiyaki or batayaki and is meant to absorb the flavor of the broth...
posted by krippledkonscious at 1:57 PM on December 21, 2006

Response by poster: Well, "menma" refers to bamboo shoots that have been seasoned, usually with soy sauce and other ingredients. "Dried menma" doesn't really exist -- the Japanese for the shoots themselves would be "takenoko."

The dried/salted ones are available partially because they store better and for longer, and because many people seem to be of the mind that sun-drying improves the flavor. I seem to recall having seen some sort of vaguely recipe-like web page (in Japanese of course) that used dried bamboo shoots, but I have no idea where it was anymore, nor do I recall there being an actual recipe on there to follow (rather than, say, just a list of ingredients).
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:07 PM on December 21, 2006

DoctorFedora, I don't know where you live, but most big cities have asian grocery stores where you can get all the stuff you need.
posted by snsranch at 2:10 PM on December 21, 2006

Response by poster: I'm living in central Pennsylvania, and yes, there ARE Asian grocers around here (I'm in State College, where there's a pretty large Asian student population). The problem is that, while I can get everything I need, I don't have a decent recipe. : P
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:56 PM on December 21, 2006

Ah.... I misread and misunderstood. I was picturing you using something like freeze-dried menma (which apparently neither of us have ever seen), but you're talking about the entire/parts of the shoot being dried and salted? That makes more sense. I know dried shoots are typical in chinese cooking and are usually boiled together with whatever else is being cooked - similar to using dried mushrooms etc. In this way, the shoots are more of an ingredient. As far as getting menma out of it, I'm not sure dried shoots are supposed to be reconstituted to get the flavor that menma is supposed to have. I'm pretty sure you'll need to start with fresh shoots, and as snsranch says, you may need to find yourself an asian grocer.
posted by krippledkonscious at 2:57 PM on December 21, 2006

Since you said Japanese was okay, here you go: Menma no tsukurikata.

And here, at "3 no 2."

And here.

I've never made my own menma before, but in my opinion, the cooking sake in the green PET bottle with the added salt shouldn't be the problem, since it's, well, *supposed* to be used for cooking. (Speaking from a Japanese shufu's POV). I think these pages don't have exact measurements because you just adjust everything to taste. Maybe you need to spend more time soaking the dried bamboo shoots. In the second link, it says to keep changing the water for three days!
posted by misozaki at 3:24 PM on December 21, 2006

Response by poster: Ah, thanks a bunch for the links! It would appear that my Google-fu has been failing me (I think part of the problem is that I've been searching メンマ　レシピ　rather than メンマの作り方).

どうもありがとうございまーす。
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:07 PM on December 21, 2006