Garlic Chives in a Stir-Fry

A stir-fry is an essential Chinese dish and the use of garlic chives in the dish only helps to strengthen that notion. Known in my native tongue as ku chai, garlic chives are used in a Malaysian fried flat noodle dish called char koay teow. Essentially, the green stem, albeit much thicker than regular chives, gives it the chive appearance but the addition of a flowering bud at the top tells you that this is a different species. As the name suggests, garlic chives exudes a more garlicky flavor than regular chives, which taste more like a less intense onion.

Here, I am pairing the garlic chives with cauliflower, shiitake mushroom, shallots, shrimp and grape tomatoes. Be sure to blanch the cauliflower first before stir frying because it takes a much longer time to cook than the rest of the vegetables.