Kalale Palya

What is kalale palya?

Kalale palya is a simple, dry vegetable dish made with sliced bamboo shoot that has been soaked and boiled, then stir fried with a coconut oil tempering. Palya is the Kannada word for a dry vegetable side dish. Kalale (ಕಳಲೆ) is the tender young shoot of bamboo, cut when it has just pushed out of the ground in the rains.

A good kalale palya is mild, a little crunchy and slightly sweet, with the heat of chilli and the smell of coconut oil. The shoot itself has a clean, nutty taste once it is properly soaked and boiled. Badly prepared kalale tastes bitter and sharp, which is the first sign it needed more soaking.

In Malenadu kalale palya sits on the side of a rice meal with saaru or huli. It is not an everyday dish. It comes only for a few weeks a year, which is why families who grew up with it still wait for the first bundle of the season.

Kalale, kanile, baimbale: what is it called?

The tender shoot is called kalale in most of Malenadu and kanile in many homes on the coast. In Kodagu it is called baimbale. All of them mean the same thing: the young, soft shoot of bamboo, eaten before it turns into a hard cane.

The English name is simply bamboo shoot, so kalale palya is bamboo shoot palya in English. For more Kannada names of hill foods, see our list of spice and ingredient names in Kannada.

When is Malenadu kalale season?

Malenadu kalale season starts with the first heavy rains of the southwest monsoon, in June and July. Bamboo sends up new shoots once the soil is soaked. Within a few weeks they grow into tall, hard canes, so the eating season is short.

In the villages the shoots are most prized in the early rains of Ashadha, the month that falls around June and July. By August most shoots are too tall and woody to eat. Our guide to the Malenadu monsoon explains how the rains arrive in these hills.

Kalale is one of three monsoon foods every Malenadu kitchen waits for, along with colocasia leaves and wild mushrooms. The leaves go into kesuvina gojju and rolled, steamed patrode. With mushrooms, the rule is the same as with kalale: eat only kinds a local person knows well or buy from the market.

Is bamboo shoot safe to eat?

Bamboo shoot is safe to eat only after it has been sliced, soaked and boiled. Never eat it raw. Fresh bamboo shoots contain a natural compound called a cyanogenic glycoside, which can release cyanide when the raw shoot is cut or chewed.

The good news is that this compound breaks down in boiling water. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s fact sheet on natural toxins says fresh bamboo shoots must be cooked before eating. It notes that boiling for 20 minutes removes about 70 percent of the cyanide and that longer cooking removes more.

Malenadu homes have always added a long soak before the boil. A Deccan Herald article on Malenadu food notes that the shoots are soaked in water for three days so that the effect of the cyanide wears off. Slicing first helps, because thin pieces give up more into the water.

• Never raw. Not even a small piece to taste.
• Slice before soaking. Thin slices or small pieces, not whole shoots.
• Soak and change the water. Two to three days, fresh water every day.
• Boil in fresh water and throw that water away. At least 20 to 30 minutes.
• If it still tastes bitter, boil again. Bitterness means it is not ready.

If anyone feels dizzy, gets a headache or starts vomiting after eating bamboo shoot, see a doctor at once. Keep raw shoots away from children and pets while you work.

Where can you get kalale and is it allowed?

Buy kalale from the market or use shoots from bamboo growing on your own land. Do not cut shoots from forest land. In the rains, Malenadu town markets have sellers with bundles of shoots, often already peeled. Some city grocers sell tinned or packed bamboo shoot.

In Karnataka, bamboo in the forest is protected by law. Under the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963, bamboo counts as a tree. The Act bars cutting trees and collecting or removing forest produce inside a reserved forest. If you are unsure about land near your village, ask the local Forest Department office before you cut anything.

There is a plain reason behind the rule too. Every shoot cut is a cane that will never grow. Forest bamboo clumps also feed wildlife and hold the soil on steep slopes. Our page on Malenadu wildlife shows what lives in those forests.

How to prepare kalale before cooking

Preparing kalale means peeling it, slicing it, soaking it for two to three days with daily water changes and then boiling it in fresh water. This is the slow part of every kalale recipe. Once it is done, the actual kalale palya takes only 15 minutes.

1. Peel. Cut off the hard base. Slit the outer sheaths with a knife and peel them away, layer by layer, until you reach the pale, soft core.
2. Slice. Cut the core into thin rounds or small pieces. Some homes grate it.
3. Soak. Put the pieces in a big bowl of water so they are well covered. Change the water every day for 2 to 3 days. The water may smell sour by the second day, which is normal.
4. Boil. Drain, cover with fresh water and boil with the lid off for 20 to 30 minutes, until a piece is soft but still has a little bite.
5. Drain and taste. Throw away the boiling water. Rinse the pieces and taste one small piece. If it is bitter, boil again in fresh water for 10 to 15 minutes.

Prepared kalale keeps in the fridge for 2 days in a box of fresh water. Many families boil a large lot at once and use it for palya on one day and huli the next.

Tinned bamboo shoots from shops are cooked before canning. Rinse them well and boil them for a few minutes in fresh water before you use them in this kalale palya.

Kalale palya recipe: how to make bamboo shoot palya

This kalale palya recipe serves four as a side dish with rice. It starts from kalale that has already been soaked and boiled, so you need only about 20 minutes at the stove.

Well made kalale palya is pale gold, dry and loose, with every piece coated in coconut. It should smell of coconut oil and curry leaves, with no sharp or sour smell from the shoot. If it smells sharp, the kalale needed a longer soak.

The heat in Malenadu kalale palya usually comes from gandhari menasu, the tiny bird eye chilli that grows in hill backyards. One crushed chilli is enough for a pan.

Coconut oil is the right fat for this dish. Its smell is part of the taste of Malenadu kalale and it suits the mild, nutty shoot.

Kalale palya variations to try

Kalale palya changes from house to house. These four variations are the most common. All of them start from kalale that has been soaked and boiled.

With green gram or horse gram

Add 1/2 cup of cooked whole green gram (hesaru kalu) or horse gram (hurali) with the kalale in step 5. It makes the palya more filling, almost a meal with rice.

With onion and garlic

In homes that use them, fry 1 chopped onion and 4 crushed garlic cloves after the curry leaves until soft. Many traditional Havyaka homes skip onion and garlic, so leave them out when cooking for them.

With a roasted spice paste

Roast 1 tablespoon coriander seeds and 3 dry red chillies in a drop of oil and grind them with the coconut. Stir this paste in at step 7 instead of plain coconut for a spicier, darker palya.

Sweeter, for children

Double the jaggery and use only one mild chilli. Children over one year usually like this version best. Do not give jaggery, sugar or honey to babies under one year.

A spoon of joni bella rounds off any slight sharpness left in the shoot. It also balances the chilli.

Other kalale recipes from Malenadu homes

Kalale palya is only one of several dishes Malenadu families make in the short season. Every one of them uses kalale that has been soaked and boiled first.

Dish	What it is
Kalale huli	A sambar of kalale with toor dal, tamarind and a ground spice paste
Kalale gojju	A thick sweet, sour and spicy relish with tamarind and jaggery
Kalale uppinakayi	A pickle of boiled kalale with mustard, chilli and salt
Kalale with coconut gravy	Kalale simmered in ground coconut, coriander and red chilli
Baimbale curry	The Kodagu bamboo shoot curry

Kanile with coconut, the coast’s bamboo shoot recipe

On the coast, kanile is often cooked in a coconut gravy rather than as a dry palya. Roasted coriander seeds and red chillies are ground with fresh coconut, then simmered with the boiled shoot and a few pieces of kokum rind for sourness. A coconut oil tempering goes on top.

A pinch of turmeric powder goes into nearly every kalale dish for colour. For huli and gojju, a little more tamarind than usual helps balance the mild shoot.

Common kalale palya mistakes and how to avoid them

Most problems with kalale palya come from rushing the soak and boil, which leaves the shoot bitter. This table shows what to watch for.

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Bitter or sharp taste	too short a soak or boil	soak 2 to 3 days, boil again in fresh water
Hard, woody pieces	shoot too old	buy short, pale, tender shoots
Soggy palya	boiled kalale not drained	squeeze out water before frying
Sour smell in the pan	soaking water not changed	change water daily, rinse well
Flat taste	too little salt or chilli	season well, add a pinch of jaggery

Never skip the soak and boil to save time. Of all the steps in a kalale recipe, it is the one that matters most.

How long does kalale palya keep?

Kalale palya keeps for a day in the fridge in a closed box. Warm it in a pan with a few drops of coconut oil before serving. The coconut in it does not keep well, so make only what you will eat in a day.

Soaked and boiled kalale keeps for 2 days in the fridge in fresh water. If it smells off, feels slimy or grows mould, throw it away.

Where to go next after kalale palya

Kalale palya is best in a full monsoon meal with rice, a peppery kokum saaru and a tambuli. Our Malenadu food guide shows the rest of the rain season kitchen. For chilli, turmeric and pepper for your next pan, see the spices section of our shop.

Frequently asked questions about kalale palya