We use a lot of green onions (also called negi, scallions or Spring onions) in our cooking. A lot of times, we’ll cut off the green tops and leave the white stalks in a cup of water by the kitchen windowsill until the roots get longer and the green leaves start growing. Then, we’ll plant the green onions in a pot of soil or in one of our garden beds.
By Springtime, we’ll have a forest of green onions to use!
They’re so easy to grow and care for. Just water the green onions every so often, harvest the outer leaves, and try to keep the snails away. You won’t have to buy green onions for months!
Here’s a classic recipe that utilizes some of our green onion bounty.
Hong Siew Braised Tofu in Wine Sauce
This recipe comes from Annie’s friend Elizabeth in Germany. Elizabeth also gave us the awesome Green Tea-ramisu recipe, so you know her recipes are worth keeping! This recipe for Hong Siew Braised Tofu in Wine Sauce is tasty as well as easy to prepare.
Hong Siew Braised Tofu in Wine Sauce
Ingredients
500 grams tofu (firm)
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
6 slices ginger
green onions cut into 2.5 cm pieces
Sauce
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
slurry made from 1 tsp cornstarch and 1/2 cup water
Method
1. Cut tofu into 5 cm square x 1 cm thick slices. Drain on paper towels.
2. Mix together the sauce ingredients
3. Heat oil over medium heat in a non-stick pan. When the oil is hot, add tofu and pan fry until golden brown. Turn the tofu over and fry the other side. Remove the fried tofu from the pan.
Frying Tofu Blocks
4. Add garlic, ginger and green onions to the pan and fry until fragrant.
5. Pour sauce over the garlic, ginger and green onions. Stir well to combine.
Adding Wine Sauce to Garlic, Ginger and Green Onions
6. Add the tofu back into the pan and settle the blocks into the sauce.
Add Fried Tofu to Wine Sauce
7. Cover the pan and lower the heat. Braise for 5 minutes.
8. Plate it up!
Hong Siew Braised Tofu in Wine Sauce
Garnish with more green onion. Serve over rice.
I love the taste of the fried tofu and the sauce has this classic Cantonese flavor to it. (Oh, by the way, you don’t have to eat the ginger if you don’t want to.)
This recipe was entered in the April 2009 Grow Your Own roundup, created by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes and hosted this month by…House of Annie! Do send us your dishes created with things grown in your garden! Deadline is April 30.
Aloha, Nate
>Hi from Santa Barbara, CA…such a simply delicious idea. We have a small Chef's garden with lots of herbs & spices…we will plant some green onions too!! thanks, s
>My mom & MIL used to cook this dish for us. They will add in the leftover siu yuk when making this dish. How nice to grow your own green!
>i looooove scallions 🙂
>Ooh, great tip re the green onions. We’ll try that!
>I wish I had a garden where I could grow green onions. I go through those like crazy. I make a variation of this tofu which has braised shiitake mushrooms — excellent in the braising liquid.
>That looks lovely — and I have green onions planned for the garden this summer!
>Oh yum! We also grow green onions throughout the year in a pot in our kitchen and outdoors as well. I enjoy tofu cooked this way and might actually get my children to eat it as well!
>I just might plant a pot of scallions. I use a lot of them and they’ve gotten silly expensive.
Best of luck in your new home – you’ll love WordPress.
>WHi Nate and Annie, What is Hong Chew? Wendy
>Love green onions. Perhaps I’ll try growing those sometime!
>Oh yumm, another delicious homely recipe from House of Annie 🙂 Can’t wait to try it. However, I’m not much of a gardener, none of the good things seem to grow in our garden but the annoying weeds and hedges keep growing uncontrollably!
>A great tofu dish that is simple, delicious and nutritious. I just to plant some herbs such as basil and mint. It’s great that I could just cut fresh sprigs for a dish I was preparing.
>@all – thanks for your comments!
@s. stockwell – green onions are some of the easiest herbs to grow!
@Food for Tots – when would they add the siu yuk – before braising the tofu or after?
@Ninette – the good thing about green onions is, you can do them in a pot. Just keep them inside in a sunny location.
Shiitake mushrooms would go great in this dish. Thanks for sharing!
@Lydia – all right!
@Andrea – tofu is a good thing.
@Ella – you can save a lot of money growing your own.
@Wendy – actually, I don’t know what “Hong Chew” means. Anyone?
@Lizzy – go for it!
@Dorach – green onions in a part isn’t so hard. Trust me!
@Jo – absolutely.
>Sautee（爆香) siu yuk at step 4. If you add siu yuk, then u may need to cut the tofu into smaller cubes. Usually we use tao gua. I guess Hong chew means 红烧.
>love your green scallion ,so fresh and green and thanks for the great tips! this is a really comfy food!! I like mine add wt minced meat and shrimp!! Yummy!!
>OK, Annie, you know what a bad gardener I am. Do you think that even I can make a store-bought green onion take root and grow in my backyard? Really? Hmmm, might be worth trying…After all, if I kill it, I’m only out one meager green onion….
>@Carolyn – that’s the spirit! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
>Hi Annie,
It should be spelled as Hong Siew Tofu. Hong means red in Cantonese and Siew means grilled/roasted. This dish usually looks reddish in the Chinese restaurant (I think they use some coloring to make it look red) and they probably grill the tofu first before adding to the wok with the other ingredients later. Your picture looks lovely and make me want to eat this dish right now 🙂
love
eliz
>My green onions like the row they’re in, but they like the ros next to them, too, so they keep going to seed and growing babies in the next row over where I was supposed to be growing leeks . . .
Green onions are awesome to grow at home! If you just cut the greens and leave it in the ground, it will just keep making more for you. In a mild climate, where I am, you’ll never have to plant them again!
>I love the tip on growing your own spring onions. I will definitely try that this summer 🙂
>I am starting my little herb garden, and this tip is perfect. I love green onions.
>@Eliz – thanks for the clarification. I’ve updated the post with your corrections.
@The Prudent Homemaker – ha ha! You can never have enough green onions.
@Giff – how’s your garden growing now?
@Nobuta – would love to see what you do with them, perhaps in an upcoming GYO roundup?