What to do with all these Chinese chives?

[oofencocotte]

Hey there all,

 

I've made a million dumplings and I've done the "scrambled egg and chives" too. Both were great. But I'm still packing a load of Chinese chives and wondering what to do with them. A google search brought up a shrimp recipe but otherwise I'm drawing a bit of a blank. Does anybody have any good ideas for how to use these up?

 

Many thanks

[NancyH]

You're so lucky - we usually don't get edible Flowering Chives until July. They go well in almost any stir fry (just remember to reduce the regular garlic to compensate). I unfortunately copied the attached stir fry recipe into a Word document, so I can't attribute it, but it looks like a way to solo the chives most nicely.

 

Also, I know you said you're dumpling-ed out, but the attached recipe from Cooking Channel offers a unique approach to texturing the dumplings. The tahini in the dipping sauce is like Chinese sesame paste (probably interchangeable with it). Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Stir fried chive buds.doc

www.cookingchanneltv.com_recipes_pretzel-pork-and-chive-dumplings-with-tahini-mustard-dipping-sauce.print.pdf

[XiaoLing]

I think this may fall into the dumplings category but have you made Chinese Chive Pie (韭菜盒子)? It's usually made with lots of chives, egg, vermicelli and dried shrimp with a thin crust like a calzone. 

 

Another way to use it is in noodle stir fry. Koreans use a lot of it in their jap chae and their pancakes.  Or you can make mi fun (rice noodles) with chives or just do a simple stir fry of julienned pork and chives with chilis (optional) or a vegetarian stir fry of green bean sprouts and chives. And you can also chop up some chives and made a simple savory Chinese egg crepe. 

[Lisa Shock]

How well do they freeze? Maybe mince and freeze in ice cube trays for later?

[NancyH]

We freeze them when our garden overflows. They do lose their texture, though they continue to taste good.

[IndyRob]

I love chives with potatoes.  Put them in the mash, or to top baked ones.  Try putting equal parts margarine (seems to work better than butter for some reason) and sour cream in a bag with a load of chives and a bit of salt.  Mash them up to mix and put in the fridge for a spell.  The put a fluted pastry tip on the bag and dispense into baked potatoes.

[liuzhou]

They are very versatile. I am never without them. As has been said, they enhance any stir fry and are great with eggs - try in an omelette.

 

Add to soups at the last minute. Anywhere you could use.garlic really. Salads. On (or in) steamed fish.

 

I also sometimes just stir fry them with a little dried shrimp or ham (or both) and serve as a vegetable side.

Edited June 6, 2017 by liuzhou
typo (log)

[kayb]

Put them in okonomiyaki.

 

[sparrowgrass]

Gardening, not cooking.  Garlic chives reseed like mad, leading to excesses of garlic chives.  Cut the flowers before they set seed--they are pretty in a flower arrangement, or just discard.

[oofencocotte]

Thanks all- I will try some of these.

 

I went down the "replacement for garlic" route today and made Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with them. Worked a charm! 

 

I'll try some herb-tossed potatoes for lunch tomorrow I think.

[andiesenji]

I use them in savory pancakes, egg fu yung, rice fritters, in nasi goreng, in steamed rice cakes, in my version of kedgeree with smoked sturgeon or trout (I can only eat fresh water fish), in cornbread, and several other dishes I can't thing of offhand.

 

I have four pots of these and cut them in turn. They must like the climate here because they grow like weeds and self seed all over the place - my neighbor has some that must have blown into the yard last year when I didn't catch all the seed heads.

in this photo, two of the pots. 

Edited June 6, 2017 by andiesenji (log)

[liuzhou]

I thoroughly recommend the yellow variety if you can find them. They are the same plant, but grown without access to direct light so remain yellow. This seems to intensify the garlic flavour and, in particular, thescent. Wonderful things. Use as above, especially in stir fries, but also in dumplings.

[andiesenji]

I forgot to list fried rice.  I just made a skillet full of pork fried rice and used half a cup (loose, not packed in) of the Chinese chives.  

My scallions are not quite big enough to pick and these are an excellent substitute.

[heidih]

I keep a pot and just scissor what I need to add a fresh garlic taste to anything I am cooking; treating them like parsley as a standard as the dish is finishing snip-in/on.. 

[liuzhou]

I forgot to mention what is probably the most common use here. Dips.

 

Almost every meal is served with a dip of some sort and they nearly always contain Chinese chives. Here is a simple dip served with jiaozi dumplings. It's just soy sauce and chopped chives.

 

 

More common is this. It is served with all meals. Chinese chives, coriander leaf (cilantro) and hot red peppers are chopped finely and mixed with soy sauce and/or vinegar. So common is this that my nearest supermarket only sells the coriander tied in a bunch with chives.

 

 

Chive and Coriander Bunch as sold in most markets and supermarkets for making dips.

Edited June 8, 2017 by liuzhou (log)