braised flowering chives with ginger

After one visit to Chatswood last Friday, I was full of new Asian food ideas. Just like that!

I must admit, Chatswood has a few good places to shop. Asian City is one of them. That’s where we buy our vegetarian dumplings from and their freezer section is full of Lamyong products—not the whole range but most of my basics can be found there.

Right next door to Asian City, there is a fresh fruit and vegetable shop. It is always surprisingly full of interesting ingredients. I managed to get some giant grey zucchinis from that place last time. I struggle to get that size all the time and it is the right size for stuffing.

The very same day, one of the ingredients I came home with was flowering chives. I absolutely LOVE anything in the chives department. And I knew I had a recipe somewhere to use my lovely bunches of flowering chives. They even look like flowers!

So, I fished out for the recipe and found it in a cookbook called Vegetarian Asian by Lynelle Scott Aitken. It’s actually not a bad cookbook by the way. So, here it goes…

Braised Flowering Chives with Ginger
Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients:
• 2 bunches flowering chives
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tsp ginger, freshly grated
• 1 small green bell pepper (capsicum), seeded and julienned
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp corn starch, dissolved in 3 tablespoons water

Directions:

1. Trim about 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the bases and tops of the chives.
2. Warm the oil in a medium frying pan or wok over medium-high heat.
3. Add the garlic, ginger and bell pepper (capsicum) and stir-fry until they begin to colour, about 1 minute.
4. Add the flowering chives and toss for 1 minute more.
5. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until the sauce is thick and clear, about 2 minutes.
6. Serve immediately, on its own or with steamed rice.

Variation: Substitute other green vegetables for chives such as yard long (snake) beans, spinach, choy sum or bok choy.