Wakatakeni (若竹煮)

Wakatakeni (simmered bamboo shoots and seaweed) is one of the Japanese "nimono" (simmered foods). It is eaten mainly in spring when fresh bamboo shoots are harvested.

Recipe

Bamboo shoots boiled beforehand should be cut in bite-sized pieces and simmered with liquid seasoning, made from soup stock, soy sauce, mirin (sweet sake for cooking), sake, sugar, salt, and so on, and then bamboo shoots should be taken out of the pot when it has simmered. Seaweed cut in bite-sized pieces should be put into the pot, and simmered in the leftover liquid seasoning on a high flame for a minute. Please be careful not to simmer the seaweed too long, for it could melt from the heat.

Bamboo shoots and seaweed should be arranged in a bowl, and then the broth should be poured on them and then garnished with kinome (a young leaf of the Japanese pepper tree).

Others

Bamboo shoots and seaweed freshly harvested in spring are called 'a perfect match in the early spring,' so they are often used together in nimono or sirumono (soup).

[Original Japanese]