Seafood and garlic chives make such a fragrant pairing! In this easy recipe, I show you how to make delicious and quick shrimp stir-fry that’s tender, garlicky, and rich with wonderful Asian flavors. It’s a simple yet versatile home-cooked dish that you can’t find in the restaurant!
Shrimp & Garlic Chives Stir-Fry Around Asia
While the dish is made with Chinese chives, you can actually find different iterations of it across Asia. In Cantonese households, you can find this recipe sometimes made with fluffy scrambled eggs. In Thai households, you’ll find a nearly identical recipe called Pad Dawg Gui Chai (ผัดดอกกุ้ยช่าย). Chinese chives are also abundant in Vietnam, so you might see a similar recipe made with shrimp and pork.
Versatile Stir-Fry
What I love about Asian cooking – and especially stir-fry – is how easy it is to customize recipes. You can start with the main ingredients and change it up by adding other seasonings, vegetables, and proteins so you get a new dish each time. And that’s especially true for this Chinese shrimp & chives stir-fry.
In different Asian households, you can find this recipe with added fried tofu, scrambled eggs, or even mushrooms! You can try experimenting with what you have around the house – add broccoli for more nutrition, make it spicier with some sliced Thai chilies (or homemade chili powder), or use peanut oil for a nuttier fragrance. The possibilities are endless!
Chinese Garlic Chives vs. “Regular” Onion Chives
You might come across two kinds of chives in the store. Chinese chives, sometimes called garlic chives, are flat and have a garlicky flavor. Onion chives, which are usually sold as regular chives, are round and hollow with a distinctly oniony taste.
While they aren’t necessarily interchangeable for this recipe, if all you have are regular chives, you can still make this recipe – but expect it to taste different (but still delicious!).
What to Eat with Shrimp & Chive Stir-Fry
At home, we love eating this shrimp & chives stir-fry the classic way, with steamed white rice. The fluffy texture of the warm rice works so well with the tender shrimp and soaks up all that delicious stir-fry sauce. Simply wonderful!
You can also include a side of blanched or steamed vegetables. Simple cooking methods work best because the stir-fry sauce is already so full of flavor.
For a twist, you can try incorporating some noodles into the dish. Chinese egg noodles can hold a lot of sauce and would pair perfectly with the flavors in this dish! You can also try flat rice noodles, but remember that they’re quite delicate so you should put them in at the last minute of cooking.
If you want your stir-fry to be saucier (this is best if you plan to eat it with noodles), you can double the ingredients for the sauce. You can even sprinkle some sesame seeds on top for a beautiful presentation.
And if you end up having some excess Chinese chives after this, you can also make my Chinese Chive Pancake recipe for breakfast the next day!
Happy Cooking!
Easy Chinese Shrimp & Chive Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 lbs. Shrimps (season with a pinch of Salt, Pepper and Sugar)
- 1 bundle Chives (cut into 1 inch length)
- 5 Garlic Cloves (smashed or roughly chopped)
- 3 tbsp Oyster Sauce
- 1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
- ¼ tsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Season our shrimps with just a pinch of salt, pepper and sugar – set aside.
- Add all of the sauce ingredients into a bowl and mix – set aside.
- Heat up some oil in a wok – medium to medium high heat.
- Cook shrimps for a couple of minutes – set aside.
- Add smashed or roughly chopped garlic cloves into the work and stir fry until light golden brown.
- Add chives to the work. You want the heat to be medium to medium high. Cook for only 1-2 minutes.
- Now add the cooked shrimps back into the wok.
- Pour the sauce into the wok and cook just a little more.