A few years ago, when I was living in New York City, my weekends consisted of driving out of Manhattan, to the heart and soul of Queens aka Flushing — the 'real Chinatown' of New York.
Imagine Sydney's Haymarket or Melbourne's Chinatown, but on steroids. Flushing is where New Yorkers go for authentic Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese food. The minute you step into the confines of Flushing you feel as if you've been transported to Asia. At 7am, Cantonese-style bakeries are bustling and you must fight with elderly diners for your fluffy cotton buns. Dim sum carts are wheeled out onto the streets and barbecue meats are placed hanging by the window, calling out your name.
One of my favourite shops and weekly haunts at the time was a traditional Cantonese barbecue shop on Main Street. The crispy pork belly was juicy yet had a crunchy top, the slightly sweet pork loin based in a sweet soy glaze was excellent and the oily chicken was one of the best in the city. But the pièce de résistance was surely the scallion (that's spring onion to us Aussies) oil, which came with all the roast meats. It was so good that you would kindly ask the waitress for two small jars, take the angry glance of disapproval and walk away with another victory for the week.
Condiments are the unsung heroes in any Asian kitchen. Rather than relying on spices, many Chinese dishes are made from a jar and without them you would not get the same taste, texture or flavour. Soy, satay, hoisin and oyster sauces are all important for traditional dishes like mapo tofu, braised pork and even livening up a rather boring stir-fry or.
You can use a fragrant spring onion oil on any protein - fish, clams, chicken, pork or a perfectly grilled steak. Source: Luke Nguyen's Food Trail
While you can get many condiments at the supermarket, there is a homemade one you don't need to shop for: spring onion oil, a feature of Cantonese BBQ. You can serve this oil with roasted chicken, duck or roasted pork belly. There are loyal fans out there who hold the humble and rather simplistic spring onion oil in high regard for its fragrant punch. If this oil is exceptional, it doesn't matter if the meat it covers is average.
If you have ginger scallion sauce in the fridge, you will not go hungry.
However, this oil is not only used in Cantonese cuisine. Vietnamese people incorporate it as a dipping sauce or drizzle it over grilled eggplant and noodles. In Singapore, the very same condiment is served alongside infamous Hainanese chicken. Given this plush, chewy chicken is a little bland, the sauce gives it a whole new dimension.
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Spring onion is also loved by Taiwanese families who use it as a topping for freshly baked bread, roll it up to make spring onion pancakes and use it as a garnish on steamed fish and grilled prawns. They even add it to beef noodle soup for that extra richness.
My favourite dish with spring onion could not be simpler. On hot Aussie summer evenings, my mum would cook a large pot of noodles, whip up the spring onion oil in less than a minute and mix through drained and chilled noodles for a dinner on the fly.
It's spring onion that gives this flaky pancake its oomph. Source: Camellia Aebischer
As well-known chef David Chang says in his Momofuku cookbook, "If you have ginger scallion sauce in the fridge, you will not go hungry".
However, his recipe doesn't heat up the oil to release the flavours of the spring onions — faux pas, chef Chang!
There are many recipes for spring onion oil out there and when you find your favourite one that packs a punch then it becomes a staple.
Try spring onion oil drizzled on pork belly to delight your senses. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
As much as a spring onion oil recipe is simplistic, given it only involves mixing a few ingredients together in oil, you still need to take care with how you do it. You need hot oil to spark the ingredients into releasing their aromas. Otherwise, you just have a big mass of oil with crunchy floating spring onions, rather than an explosive condiment ready to garnish and complement any dish, carb or protein.
There really is no formal recipe for making spring onion oil. Some versions add grated ginger or garlic. Don't be too strict on measurements, as long as you have enough oil to cover the spring onions aka scallions.
Spring onion oil
Ingredients
- 4 sprigs spring onion
- 1 tsp salt
- White pepper, pinch
Method
- Finely chop the spring onions and place in a clean large jar with salt and pepper.
- In a small pot, heat the oil up to 80 degrees Celsius, or until warm but definitely not smoking. I usually test my oil with a wooden chopstick. If it bubbles a little near the chopstick when inserted in the oil, it's hot enough.
- Pour the hot oil over the spring onions mixture, but be extremely careful to avoid splatters when the hot oil hits the spring onions — your jar needs to be big enough to account for this.
- Set aside, stir and enjoy for a few days.
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