Garlic-Chili Oil Kissed Chinese Chives with Dried Tofu Noodles (熗拌韭菜)

Kissed with sizzling garlic-chili oil, this Chinese Garlic Chives with Dried Tofu Noodles is bold, savory, and irresistibly aromatic. 🧄🌶️⚡ This tasty dish can be enjoyed hot or served cold as a delicious appetizer.

Garlic Chives in Chinese

Garlic chives are called Jiǔ Cài (韭菜) in Chinese.

Where do I even begin with garlic chives? They are super fragrant, available all year round at Asian grocery stores, and can be made into many yummy dishes that go well with rice or other carbs (mmm, dumplings!). 

Garlic chives, also known as Chinese chives, are in the same genus family as garlic (i.e., Allium), have a strong onion-y, garlic-y smell, and, to my knowledge, have nothing to do with garlic otherwise.

Interestingly, due to their pungency, garlic chives are one of the Five Pungent Roots practitioners in certain branches of Buddhism cannot eat because these plants are believed to induce and increase undesirable emotions like anger or sexual desire (the other four are onions, garlic, leeks, scallions or green onions, and shallots).

With not just garlic chives--but also quite a few garlic cloves--this recipe is *definitely* not for any serious Buddhist practitioners! 🧄

Ingredient Notes And Substitutions

Here is a quick overview of what you'll need! Find the printable recipe with measurements below.

• Garlic Chives: The star ingredient of the dish!
• Dried Tofu Noodles: Adds a different texture and protein to the dish! They are a regular in Chinese appetizers and are often mixed with a vinegary sauce, as an tangy appetizer, for hot days or as a prelude for hot main entrees.
• Garlic Cloves: The more the merrier! Prepping garlic is not an enjoyable task for me (sticky!), so five will do.
• Dried Chili Peppers: They not only add a pop of color, they also add a layer of aroma when activated by hot oil! They are usually not spicy at all.
  • Optional: If you do not want to risk any spice at all, you can omit this.
• Peanut Oil: Used to activate the minced garlic and chopped dried chili peppers, and add a layer of nutty aroma and taste!
  • Substitution: You can use soybean, safflower, rice bran, or avocado oil, as they all have a similar high smoking point as peanut oil (450℉ or 230℃), though you might not get the same aroma and taste.
• Sesame Oil: Adds a layer of nutty aroma and taste.
• Sugar: Adding a bit of sugar rounds out the saltiness from the soy sauce and the acidity from the vinegar.
• Light Soy Sauce: Flavors the dish and adds a layer of aroma.
  • Substitution: If you really don't have Chinese soy sauce at hand, Japanese soy sauces can be really good substitutes as they are excellent in cold dishes. Japanese soy sauces tend to have less sodium than Chinese ones, so you might have to add more than what the recipe calls for or further season the dish with salt.
• ZhenJiang Vinegar: This black vinegar has a more pronounced vinegar aroma than a vinegar taste. It is not as acidic as Western balsamic vinegars; it is much lighter and rounder in taste.
  • Substitution: Not recommended.
• Salt: Use for blanching.

Measuring Garlic Chives

I understand that vegetables sold at different Asian supermarkets come in different sizes, and it's not like everyone has a food scale at home to weigh out exactly how much is needed in a certain recipe (or even if you did, you might not feel like getting it out cause it's so much work?).

So, on that note, I developed a rule of thumb (literally!) for myself, and hopefully it will work for you, too!

My Rules of Thumb
To eyeball the weight of garlic chives without a scale, here’s my quick trick:
(Disclaimer: I have an average-sized hand but longer-than-average fingers.)

• If my thumb easily surpasses my middle finger when holding a bunch of garlic chives (like in the images above), then the bunch usually comes out to be about 60 grams ± 10 grams, which is about what this recipe (1x) calls for.

Did this method work for you? Let me know whether this trick worked for you (or not) in the comments or DM me on Instagram @AtypicalFare!

Dried Tofu Noodles

• Each packet comes with two clusters of dried tofu noodles, and this recipe (1x) calls for one cluster.
• If you prefer the metric system, you can toggle "Unit Conversion" in the Recipe Card below to find each ingredient's metric measurements.

How to Make This Recipe: A Visual Guide

Here is a quick visual rundown! Find the full instructions with ingredients below.

Step 1: Cut garlic chives and dried tofu noodles into small sections, about 1 inch (or 2.5 cm) long.

Step 2: Thinly cut dried chili peppers (refer to the bowl). Dried chili peppers are hard to cut with a knife, so I am using a pair of food-grade scissors.

Step 3: Bring a pot of water to a boil, add garlic chives, and blanch for 15-30 seconds. When done, take them out, drain any excess water, and set aside for later use.

Step 4: Bring the same pot of water back to a boil, then add salt. Salt helps to strengthen the protein structure and slightly flavor the noodles.

Step 5: Add dried tofu noodles, and wait until the water boils again before taking the noodles out and setting them aside for later use.

Step 6: In a large mixing bowl, add blanched garlic chives and dried tofu noodles.

Step 7: Add sesame oil, light soy sauce, Zhen Jiang vinegar, sugar, and mix well.

Step 8: Place the minced or crushed garlic and cut dried chili peppers on top.

Step 9: In a small saucepan or a milk warmer pot, heat peanut oil on medium-high heat until just smoking. Alternatively, you can stick a wooden or bamboo chopstick in the oil and see whether lots of small bubbles form quickly around the chopstick (signs that the oil is hot enough).

Step 10: Pour hot oil on the garlic and chili peppers to activate their flavors (it will be sizzling!), mix everything well, and the dish is ready to be served!