Alma Bax 
Keerla chakko is a side dish made of tender bamboo shoots. It’s cooked in a spicy tamarind gravy and served with boiled rice, fried onions, and coriander leaves.
Bamboo shoots are a type of edible plant that is often used in Asian cooking. They are typically found in the form of tender shoots that can be eaten raw or cooked.
The rains of the monsoon season produce spikes of delicate bamboo shoots. A fresh shoot emerges from the underlying root system above the earth in around 3-4 year old bamboos. These bamboo shoots grow a few feet above the ground in a few of weeks. Bamboo shoots that are less than 2-3 feet long are edible and consumed as a vegetable. A spade is used to cut off a young, cone-shaped fresh bamboo shoot from its root connection when it first emerges above the earth surface. It is a delicacy that is eaten. Bambusa bambos, Bambusa tulda, Bambusa polymorpha, Bambusa balcooa, Dendrocalamus hemiltonii, D. gigentius, Melocanna baccifera, Bambusa vulgaris, and Phyllostachys edulis are some of the most common edible species.
Bamboo shoot contains many layers of thick leaf covering wrapped tightly around its core cream-white heart, which is the edible part of the bamboo shoot. It has a moderate yet unique taste and a crisp texture. It, on the other hand, takes on an almost neutral flavor after being cooked and cured.
Even after cooking, fresh bamboo stalks remain crisp. Pickled bamboos get softer with time, although they are still chewy. In East Asian areas and South East Asian nations, young, delicate shoots are a seasonal delicacy.
During the monsoon season in Karnataka, bamboo shoots are served as a special meal (due to seasonal availability). Kanile or kalale is the Kannada word for it. In Konkani, they’re called kirlu.
Various delicacies made with fresh bamboo shoots may be found in Konkani cuisine. Once cut, tender bamboo shoots have a very short shelf life. Within 4-6 days, they begin to spoil. As a result, they are pickled/cured to be utilized all year.
Fresh delicate bamboo shoots are only accessible during the first few months of each year’s monsoon season. And the only way to have an abundance of them throughout the year is to cure/pickle them. The excess of the season is therefore stored in brine for future use.
Fresh bamboo shoots should only be eaten after being cooked or pickled. You can’t eat them uncooked, and you shouldn’t. Natural poisons (cyanogenic glycosides) are found in raw bamboo stalks. Toxins are destroyed by cooking and pickling.
New bamboo shoots must be soaked in water for two to three days before being cooked, with the water being emptied and replaced with fresh water each day to extract and eliminate toxins.
Bamboo shoots, when young, are tasty. As they get older, they become more hardened. During the months of June to September, when new bamboo shoots grow, tender bamboo shoots are frequently sold at local marketplaces.
Tender bamboo shoots are gathered, defoliated, steeped in water for 2-3 days, then cooked to eliminate the bitter flavor, after which they are ready to eat or use in a recipe. Because the water used to boil new bamboo tastes bitter and nasty, it is wasted. Following that, the delicate fresh bamboo stalks are utilized in cooking.
These delicate bamboo stalk pieces are then utilized in a variety of cuisines, including:
1. keerla sukke/chakko (spicy coconut masala with bamboo stalks),
keerla ambade ghashi is number two (a coconut based curry with bamboos and hog plums),
3. Mugu and Kirla Ghashi (bamboos in a spicy coconut curry with green gram).
Tender bamboo stalk delicacies are a specialty of Konkani cuisine.
To make this dish, pickled delicate bamboo stalks are utilized.
1. kirla bajo kirla bajo kirla bajo kirla (bamboo fritters)
2. polo kirla sanna (spicy rice based pancakes with bamboo shoots),
keerla fry is number three (shallow fried pickled bamboos),
4. phodi keerla (spicy pan fried bamboos),
5. pickled bamboo shoots suyee ghashi (coconut-based curry).
Some individuals may have an unpleasant taste or smell when they first try fresh, cooked bamboo stalks. However, good cooking eliminates the disagreeable taste and odor.
To make kirla sukke/chakko, follow these instructions:
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh, delicate bamboo shoots, coarsely sliced 3/4 cup coconut grated 4–5 dried red peppers 1 tablespoon seeds of coriander urad dal, 1 tablespoon 3-4 Indian hog plums/1 tablespoon tamarind a half teaspoon of jaggery 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil mustard seeds, 1/2 teaspoon 1 curry leaflet 1 curry leaflet 1 curry leaflet 1 curry leaflet 1 curry leaf season with salt to taste
Time to prepare: 60 minutes
Serves: 4
Method of Preparation:
Preparing the bamboos entails the following steps:
1. The outer, thick layers of the fresh, delicate bamboo shoots offered in the market are peeled away until you reach the soft, tender layer that is entirely white. The bamboo shoot’s remaining interior, totally white part is edible.
The outer layers are thrown away.
2. The delicate inner bamboo stalks are coarsely cut next. Allow them to soak in water for two days. Replace the water on a daily basis. On the third day, make keerla chakko using these bamboo shoots.
This dish is made entirely of the soft, inner, thin layers of bamboo. The bamboo’s outer, thick layers are pulled away and discarded.
3. Drain all of the water and pressure boil the chopped bamboo shoot for one whistle with salt and enough water (1 cup). Even after cooking, the fresh bamboo stalks retain their crispness.
The color of the bamboo bits varies somewhat. They go from white to off-white in color.
4. After the bamboo shoots have been cooked, drain all of the water and set aside the cooked bamboo shoot pieces.
Masala preparation:
5. In a frying pan, heat a few drops of oil before adding the urad dal, coriander seeds, and red chilies. Fry until the urad dal begins to brown and the fragrance of fried coriander seeds, red chilies, and urad dal fills the room.
6. Grind them with coconut, salt, jaggery, and tamarind into a smooth paste with as little water as possible after they’ve cooled.
Jaggery is added to taste, so alter the amount according to your preferences. If you want the side dish to be totally hot, you may even leave it out. You can exhale tamarind when crushing Indian hog plum (ambado in Konkani) since the sourness originates from the hog plum.
7. In a separate pan, heat the remaining oil and mustard. When the mustard begins to bubble, add the urad dal, a few pieces of red chili, and the curry leaves, and continue to cook until the urad dal begins to brown.
8. Simmer for a minute or two after adding the ground masala. If you’re using Indian hog plum for tamarind, include it with the ground masala.
9. When the masala begins to dry out, add the fried bamboo shoots and continue to cook until the masala is completely dry.
10. Turn off the heat and serve immediately with rice.
More Konkani cuisine side dishes may be found here.
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