The market · Alliums · East Asia, Southeast Asia
Garlic chives
Flat, broad chives that taste of garlic, eaten as a vegetable across East and Southeast Asia — in dumplings, pad thai and stir-fried with egg.
garlicky · grassy
What to do with it
ThaiPad thaiThin rice noodles stir-fried with tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar, egg, tofu and prawns, with beansprouts, chives and crushed peanuts.No one here has made it yetMalaysianChar kway teowFlat rice noodles fried hard in lard over fierce heat with prawns, cockles, Chinese sausage, egg, bean sprouts and chives.No one here has made it yetKoreanDwaeji gukbapRice in a milky pork-bone broth with slices of boiled pork, seasoned at the table with salted shrimp, garlic chives and a red chilli paste.No one here has made it yetKinds
- Green garlic chives
- The everyday kind: flat leaves, cooked or raw.
- Yellow (blanched)
- Grown in the dark, milder and more tender — briefly stir-fried.
- Flowering
- Firm stems with a bud on top; cut into lengths and stir-fried.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Chinese and Korean grocers, in bundles. They wilt fast — use within a couple of days.
- Worth knowing
- Add them last; thirty seconds in a hot pan is enough.
