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Purchasing: Garlic chives are normally sold in bunches. Look for bright green ones. They should be firm and dry, with crisp lower ends that snap if bent. Avoid any that have rotted and become “slimy.”
Culinary uses: Garlic chives are used mainly in Chinese and Korean cooking. They have a strong flavor when raw but become more delicate after cooking. The pale, golden type called yellow chives, are prized for their delicate flavor. They are often added to soups, noodles and stir-fries, or minced and added to dumpling fillings. Flower chives are stir-fried and used as a garnish because of their decorative appearance.
Preparation: Take the whole bunch apart and look at each stem. Discard any stems that are brown or wilted. Rinse well and drain. Trim the hard bottom portions of the stems and use the rest as instructed in the recipes.
Storing: Store garlic chives in the refrigerator for 1–2 days, wrapped in paper towels or sealed in plastic bags or in airtight containers to prevent their strong garlic aroma from impregnating other foods.
Substitutes: Green onions or Western chives can be substituted for garlic chives but they will not give the same distinctive garlicky aroma and flavor.
Ginger flower ~ bunga kantan
This edible flower bud is an amazingly perfumed herb— statuesque, beautifully colored and well-proportioned, with exquisite aromas of floral ginger and lemony rose and a musk-and-strawberry sweetness. With its startling pink, red-edged leaves reaching up to a sharp point with yellow flame-like streaks, it is not only one of the most attractive of Asian herbs but the most aromatic as well, with a perfume that remains even when it is chopped into salads or ground into a curry paste.
The ginger flower has a stem as thick as a man’s thumb with leaves pointing to the sky like a pair of folded, praying hands. And the aroma? Think of ginger ale, lemony rosewater from the sharbat drinks of Persia, and a whiff of jasmine as you breathe in deeper. This spectacular flower is very uncommon in countries outside the tropics, although it has been growing sucessfully in sub-tropical Darwin and Queensland (Australia) for several years. It flowers along with the other gingers used in Queensland for desserts and pickling, although this particular ginger is not used in Western food. The Thais, Malaysians and Laotians use it quite a lot—ground up into curries and chopped up in salads—where the aroma is unmistakable in its fresh form. It seems almost a desecration to chop up something so beautiful, if the ginger flower arrives fully-formed in the kitchen, although by the time they have arrived at the markets of Asia, you will find some of the petals marked, damaged and blackened through rough handling. Sometimes soaking them in a solution of sugar water helps restore the shape and the quality of the flower. However, for eating, it does not matter if the flower reaches you slighty damaged, as it is either going to be chopped up or processed.
The torch ginger plant is one of the many varieties of ginger flowering plants. It produces the pink flower in the midst of long, thin sheaths. The entire plant can grow up to 16 feet (5 meters) in height, so expect to find large ginger flowers up to about 8–12 in (20–30 cm) long and 3 in (8 cm) thick. You may find smaller ginger flowers in the market, but treat them all in the same way. Scratch the surface of the flower and sniff it—if you get a strong, perfumed gingery aroma, you are on the right track.
Purchasing: Look for this flower in Asian markets. I was surprised to find it in that Ali Baba’s cave of shopping, the Ka De Wa in Berlin, sitting alongside fresh lemongrass stems, galangal roots and a durian, of all things. Choose fresh-looking buds without too much wilting or browning at the edges.
Culinary uses: This flower is an essential ingredient for many Malaysian and Nonya salads, curries, rojak and laksa, and also for the Thai nam prik mixture (a spicy dip) and many Vietnamese dishes. It is best to add chopped ginger flower at the end of cooking, so its flavor and aroma are retained.
Preparation: Wash the buds and in between each of the stems that make up the central core, then halve and slice each bud finely, discarding the stems.
Storing: The ginger flower has a shelf life of about a week. Wrap it in several layers of paper towels and store in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator. You can freeze the flower, but bring it to room temperature naturally, not in a microwave. However, freezing destroys some of the flavor and aroma. Substitutes: A mixture of lemongrass and young ginger slices.
Kaffir lime and lime leaves ~
Words of wisdom from Amah (nanny) hinged around the fact that the sweetest and tastiest things in life are always thorny. And we learned that lesson early in our lives with the thorny durians—the thorniest fruits invariably produced the sweetest flesh. It was therefore easy to infer that the thorniest kaffir lime leaves were the most flavorful. My kaffir lime tree has survived three transplants and is still producing the glossiest and most perfect hourglass-shaped leaves with as many thorns as leaves.
Kaffir lime leaves are prized for their distinctive incense-like aroma and sharp citrus oils. When the leaves are pressed together between the fingers, sweetish lower notes of orange and clove underpin the immediate top notes of citrus and lime, giving way to a wonderful blend of aromas that translate into flavors when they are used as garnishes and in curries. They can also be crushed or ground to release the oils for use in sambals and sauces, especially Thai green curries and Malaysian laksas, adding top notes to the coriander and pepper garnishes used.
Kaffir lime leaves are versatile in their uses, adapting to Western as well as Eastern recipes. You can use them as fine garnishes in seafood salads and pastas; their strong citrus flavor will give a perfect balance in any recipe where lemon or lime are required.
Purchasing: Kaffir lime leaves are easily spotted for their distinct female hourglass figure. Look for plastic packets of fresh, green and glossy kaffir lime leaves in Asian stores. Don’t buy them on the stems as you will be paying for extra weight. Although dried or frozen leaves as well as essence and powder are available, try to use fresh leaves for their superior aroma and flavor.
Culinary uses: Kaffir limes are small limes with a very rough and intensely fragrant skin, but virtually no juice. The rind or skin is often grated and added to dishes as a seasoning. The fragrant leaves are added whole to soups and curries, or finely shredded and added to salads or deep-fried fish cakes, giving a wonderfully tangy taste to these dishes.
Preparation: When cutting fine strips as a garnish, first remove and discard the central veins of the leaves. Roll several of them into a tight cylinder and slice them very thinly using a very sharp knife. These fine strips are attractive when used as a garnish on salads, seafood dishes and even on lime ice cream or a Lime and Mint Granita Sorbet (page 77). I use kaffir lime shreds to garnish onion and garlic omelets and laksa. When flavoring curries, use whole leaves and add them during the last minute of cooking. Mincing or finely chopping the leaves may overpower the other delicate flavors in the dish.
Storing: Freeze fresh leaves in a plastic bag. Even though they will lose their dark-green color and turn a muddy brown when frozen, the flavors are retained and are just as effective for daily use. Kaffir lime tree can be potted successfully in both tropical and temperate climates, but grow better in the ground. The leaves may wilt or turn yellow and drop in winter, but they grow back green and glossy in spring.
Substitutes: Dried kaffir lime leaves are a poor substitute. Young lemon, lime or even grapefruit leaves may be used
