Ziyuan Bamboo-Tube Rice 资源竹筒饭

Ziyuan Bamboo-Tube Rice (资源竹筒饭) is rice cooked inside a length of fresh bamboo in Ziyuan County (资源县), a county of Guilin (桂林) in the northeast of Guangxi on the western flank of the Yuecheng Mountains (越城岭), bordering Hunan. The county's culture, radio, sports and tourism bureau lists it among Ziyuan's food specialities and gives its other name, xiangzhu fan (香竹饭), "fragrant bamboo rice".

Ingredients

The filling is rice with cured pork (腊肉), beans and other ingredients. The container is part of the recipe: the Ziyuan bureau specifies tubes cut from fresh nanzhu (楠竹, moso bamboo) grown in the county.

How it is made

The rice mixture is packed into the bamboo tube with a suitable amount of water, and the open end is stopped tightly with a piece of banana leaf. The sealed tubes are then cooked in one of two ways: roasted in a charcoal fire until the green bamboo is scorched, or steamed over a strong fire until done.