April 23, 2010

Miri - Chives Flowers

My friend lives in Miri and she is a very good gardener. Recently she is into potted vegetable growing. Her chieves are doing so well that the flowers from the chives are given to friends for floral arrangement.

I love to eat chives and put them into all sorts of stir fries etc.


Garlic chives (simplified Chinese: 韭菜; traditional Chinese: 韭菜; pinyin: jiǔcài, also 韮菜) are also known as Chinese chives, Chinese leek, ku chai, jiu cai, Oriental garlic chives or, in Japanese, nira (kanji: 韮; hiragana: にら; katakana: ニラ); in Kapampangan it is known as Kuse/Cu-se; in Korea known as buchu (부추), sol (솔), or jeongguji (정구지) or in Vietnamese, hẹ ([hɛ̂ˀ]; chu Nom: ��). The plant has a distinctive growth habit with strap-shaped leaves unlike either onion or garlic, and straight thin white-flowering stalks that are much taller than the leaves. It grows in slowly expanding perennial clumps, but also readily sprouts from seed. Besides its use as vegetable, it also has attractive flowers. (wikipedia)

The chives are used for making of buns and especially chai kuey a favourite Hokkien dim sum dish.

I like to fry my chives with eggs. Sometimes when I was young my grandmother who grew a lot of chives would even make soup with dumplings and chives. Whenever I think of this particular soup I would long for my childhood and my grandmother's tenderloving care (TLC).


n traditional Chinese medicine, chives are used to treat meat poisoning, amoebic dysentery and hiccups. Chives, particularly the seeds, are used together with other herbs to heal problems relating to premature ejaculation and night emission. A stir-fry dish of chives and shrimps helps to relieve these problems. Chives contain carotene, vitamins B1, B2, C, nicotinic acid, iron, calcium and phosphorus. Their high calcium content helps to strengthen nails and teeth

Chives always remind me of my maternal grandmother.

7 comments:

Sunflower said...

I love jiu cai. I got some in the garden too. I can never grow them as tall and fat like those bought. Back in Brunei we have a problem. Big flies love jiu cai. We have to close all the windows and door before cutting and cooking. Big swamp of flies will hover around the window. It must the strong smell attracting them. Glad we don't have big flies over here.

Lee said...

Hi Sarawakiana, by coincidence we ate chives last night. We too love it very much, very healthy vegetable.
Its cheap here too.
Best regards, Lee.

Ensurai said...

Hi Sunflower
Yes Chives grown in big plots get very disturbed by flies. And when we cook using chives the big flies will suddenly come into the kitchen from no where and we will have to take out the fly swats and even Ridsect....
But chives are lovely...I like them in almost all my Korean buns and Chinese jiaozi.Cheers.

Ensurai said...

Hi Uncle Lee
Thanks for visiting....Cheers for chives!!
And indeed they are very health. Koreans and Japanese love them too.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I don't know, why, I had trouble commenting on your site.

My big sister grows JIU CHAI and fries eggs with them. We didn't eat a lot of it when we were growing up, but when I was in Singapore, my PRC friends taught me to make Jaio Zhi with Chives. We made a zillion to sell for our FOODSALEs to raise money for the Deaf children in Kenya.

Ensurai said...

Dear Ann
Thanks for visiting ...It is good to make jiaozi to raise funds for deaf children in Kenya! So commendable...

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Flowers store said...

I like your pics...
I suggest this site to my friends so it could be useful & informative for them also. Great effort.

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