Come Monsoon and with the rains – we start to get many monsoon veggies too ..the classic example being Bamboo shoots or Keerlu in Konkani ! We GSB’s make a variety of delicious dishes with it , You can find many recipes of it in this blog !
Since this is available only during the monsoons , we have to preserve them by salting them so that they can be enjoyed at other times of the year ! So let’s see how we can salt them , First & foremost get the freshest bamboo shoots you can get !
Remove the outer layers till you get an off white one
Cut them into several parts .
These are the tenderest parts called as Keerla Neeli which you can use right away and taste best when used fresh .Soak them for two days changing the water many times to remove the toxins ..Alternatively they can be boiled vigorously for 10 minutes . Use after draining the water Doing this will remove the bitterness .
Chop them finely and use. while the the other less tender parts can be cut into bigger pieces like in the pic below
Keep a clean ,sun dried jar ready. Put some pieces at the bottom.
Put 2 big handfuls of sea/ crystallized salt (even table salt will do).
Again put bambooshoots pieces and again salt..repeat this till the the jar is full.
Cover this jar tightly . After some days,you can notice that it has started to leave water. No need to add water at all . Only note to add lots of salt as otherwise it may turn black due to fungus . Keep in a cool dry place . Before using the salted pieces soak overnight to remove the salt .
Konkani Khann Anik Jevan 