Cilantro Salad with Shallot Oil

I had a bunch of cilantro sitting in the fridge leftover from a week of recipe shooting. It felt like a problem waiting for a creative solution. I researched some recipes online and came across the delightful site of Madame Huang, a California native who lived in Taiwan for a number of years.

I love this recipe because I now have a way to use up all my extra cilantro. I also rediscovered a lovely substitute for sesame oil if I ever need something that tastes a little lighter and fragrant —shallot oil.

I grew up eating fried shallots in lots of dishes — a topping over rice noodle soups, folded into steamed turnip cakes or served over vegetables. I usually avoid store brought fried shallots, not trusting the quality of oil they were fried in. A good reason to make one’s own.

This salad calls for an entire bunch of cilantro. Not brown, wilted ones but fresh, vibrant cilantro. I substituted peanuts for cashews and yellow pepper for red since I cannot drop by the grocery store as easily these days. Toasted peanuts on the top of my shopping list next week. 

Shallot Oil

Ingredients

1 cup thinly sliced shallots (around three shallots)
1.5 cup fresh rice bran oil ( sub peanut or grapeseed oil)

*Make this oil at least a day ahead before you want to use it to flavour your dish.

Instructions

Slice shallots into thin rings, as evenly as you can. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a pan. You can tell the oil is ready when there are small ripples on the surface. Test by inserting a chopstick into the oil, it should be covered in bubbles immediately. Sprinkle in the shallots, reduce heat to medium and fry them until they turn a golden brown. Stir often so they fry evenly. Turn the heat off when they are a light golden brown, and fry with the residue heat.

Strain the shallots over a sieve into a vessel. Reserve the shallots as a topping, and use the oil for stir fry, a sesame oil substitute or in other dishes. Alternatively, you can add the cooled oil back into the shallots and use as a topping over rice, noodles or steamed greens

Cilantro and Peanut Salad

Ingredients

1 bunch fresh cilantro*
½ cup fried or toasted peanuts
½ sweet bell pepper 
1 tsp soy sauce
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp sea salt
2 tbsp shallot oil (sub sesame oil)
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

Trim and remove the tough or browned stalks of cilantro. Wash in water, shake dry, cut into 1-inch pieces and transfer to a mixing bowl. Prep the bell pepper and slice into small pieces, around the size of a peanut. Add peppers to the mixing bowl.

Toss cilantro with pepper, peanuts and the rest of ingredients. Taste and add more seasoning if you’d like. I added some fried shallots from the shallot oil. Serve as an appetizer or as a side. Also great as a chilled dish, just toss in the peanuts and dressing before serving. 

*As cilantro is the main ingredient, use the nicest bunch you can find.

Chive Blossom Vinegar

I have an appetite for chives. Chives in boiled dumplings, chives in potstickers; chives chopped, stir-fried and hidden into chive pockets; chives wrapped into steamed buns and strung onto sticks with enoki or chicken skewers from vendors on the streets in Asia; chives fried with egg, dried shrimp, thin slivers of pork and rice noodles grandma would make by the mountain-full. I eat chives for the taste just as much as the love of the memories I have of eating them.

There is something incredibly beautiful about chives blossoms, the tiny bursts of purple on long green stems, the pungent smell and tiny seeds that fall from their pods. I also cherish the fact that I get to harvest a handful of these beauties every year from my dad’s yard — so pretty that I put them in vases for a few days before making a recipe out of them. 

I chuckle to think of the traits I bring from Asian culture into photography —choosing to photograph subjects that are at once tasty, photogenic, accessible and meaningful. It’s almost like someone said, “I created these chive blossoms, make good use of them!” An opportunity one must not pass.

So here is a recipe for chive blossom vinegar. A vinegar that will taste slightly like chives and turn the liquid into a deceivingly shade of rosé. Great for pickling daikon or adding flavour to a salad.

Chive Blossom Vinegar

Ingredients

• A handful of chive blossoms (use blooms that bloomed and have yet gone to seed)
• Vinegar (I used rice vinegar for this one)

Instructions

1. Behead chive blossoms, wash thoroughly with water and pat dry with paper towels.

2. Transfer chive blossoms into a clean jar. Mash slightly with a spoon to release flavour. Top the blossoms with a sprig of chive stem if you like, chopped.

3. Fill to the brim with vinegar.

4. Let sit in a cool dark place for two weeks. Strain the liquid and keep in a sterilized jar for up to 6 months.

* Rice vinegar can be substituted with apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.

* For a quick pickle, heat the vinegar until it comes to a simmer (do not boil, it will drain the colour from the blossoms), repeat with steps 3 and 4 above. Vinegar will be ready in 3 days.