You never know until you try. Seriously, I never thought of stir-frying chinese chive leaves. Because of their stronger smell and 'oniony' flavor, I don't think to cook the leaves would be a good idea. What I normally do is I would throw in a few short lengths of chive leaves when I cook fresh bean sprouts to complete the taste. Yeah, they make a perfect partner in any stir-fry and dumpling. I stumbled upon this easy stir-fry recipe using chive leaves in a quick search of the internet and gave it a try. It made the difference and I quite liked it!
Note: The recipe is copied from Tan Wiratchada's blog.
Ingredients:
2 g shrimps
2-3 squids, cut
1 g Chinese chive flowers, cut
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 ½ tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
Preparation:
1. Chop garlic. Cut the Chinese chive flowers into 1 ½ inch long. Peel and devain shrimp. For a presentation, you can use whole shrimp (with head) and peel.
2. Heat a wok or a pan on high heat. Add a tablespoon of oil and chopped garlic and stir.
3. Add shrimp and squids when the garlic starts to brown. Stir to get the shrimp and squid somewhat cooked. The shrimp shoud start to get pinky but not all pink or cooked.
4. Add the chive flowers and stir to cook them.
5. Add oyster sauce and fish sauce. The flowers shouldn't take long to cook. You want the flowers to just cook, but not overcook and still retain their crunchiness.
6. When the color turns bright green, it indicates that they are cooked.
7. Turn off the heat and pour on a plate immediately. Serve with hot steamed rice.
