Core Tip: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) considers scallions a versatile ingredient for both medicinal and culinary purposes. Scallions are a staple in the daily kitchen, not only for flavoring but also for preventing and treating diseases, making them both a fine vegetable and a good medicine.
Some people discard the green tops when using scallions. Some wonder, which is more nutritious, the white part or the green tops? Is it a waste to throw away the green tops? Let Phoenix TCM tell you which part of the scallion is more nutritious! Additionally, we will also share the best ways to use scallions.
Which is more nutritious, the white part or the green tops of a scallion?
TCM believes that scallions have medicinal effects such as sterilization, promoting lactation, diuresis, inducing sweating, and aiding sleep. However, in daily life, people are accustomed to using only the white part and discarding the green tops. In fact, the green part contains nutrients like chlorophyll and carotenoids that are not found in the white part and should not be easily discarded. Chlorophyll has important health benefits for the human body, such as resisting radiation, removing toxins, and strengthening muscles. Therefore, the green tops of a scallion are more nutritious than the white part.
If the green tops of the scallions you bought are old, withered, and yellowed, you can discard them. Don't insist on keeping them just because they are more nutritious, as it will affect the texture of the dish.
How to use scallions best
Before stir-frying, you can chop it with ginger and sauté it in hot oil until fragrant. For a finished dish, you can also sprinkle raw chopped scallions on top to enhance the flavor. It can be said that scallions are a versatile ingredient, suitable for all kinds of cooking methods such as pan-frying, stir-frying, braising, and deep-frying. Let's take a look at how to use scallions best!
Method 1: Use scallions according to their characteristics
The common scallions used in homes are large scallions and green onions, which have a strong pungent aroma and are widely used in dishes, serving as both an auxiliary ingredient and a seasoning. Processed into shreds or mince, they can be used as a condiment for cold dishes, which not only adds freshness but also has a sterilizing and disinfecting effect. Processed into sections or other shapes and then deep-fried with the main ingredient, the scallion flavor blends with the umami of the main ingredient.
In addition, after being stir-fried in oil, green onions can further enhance their aroma, making them an indispensable seasoning for cooking aquatic products and animal offal. They can be processed into dices, sections, slices, or shreds to be cooked with the main ingredient, or tied into knots and simmered with the main ingredient. When the dish is done, discard the scallions and only keep their aroma. Younger green onions are also called chives. After being blanched in boiling oil, they have a fragrant aroma and a vibrant green color, and are often used in cold dishes or sprinkled on finished dishes, such as "Tofu with Scallions" and "Scallion Oil Chicken".
Method 2: Use scallions according to the shape of the main ingredient
The shape of the processed scallions should match the main ingredient, generally being slightly smaller, but this should be flexibly applied according to the cooking method of the raw material. For example, "Braised Fish", "Dry-braised Fish", "Steamed Fish", "Fish Ball Soup", and "Fish Soup" are all fish dishes, but due to different cooking methods, the requirements for the shape of the scallions are also different. "Braised Fish" requires scallions to be cut into sections and cooked with the fish. "Dry-braised Fish" requires scallions to be minced to be consistent with other ingredients. "Steamed Fish" only needs a whole scallion placed on top of the fish, which is removed after the fish is cooked to leave only the aroma. "Fish Ball Soup" requires the scallions to be soaked in water, and only the scallion juice is used to avoid affecting the color of the fish balls. When making "Fish Soup", scallions are usually cut into sections, deep-fried, and then simmered with the fish. The deep-fried scallions have a strong aroma that can remove the fishy smell. After the soup is cooked, the scallion sections are removed, leaving the soup clear and not turbid.
Method 3: Use scallions according to the needs of the raw ingredients
Raw ingredients such as aquatic products, poultry, livestock offal, and eggs have a strong fishy or gamey smell. Scallions are an essential seasoning when cooking them. For bean products and root and stem vegetables, scallions can be used to remove the beany smell and earthy taste. Single green vegetables themselves have a natural aroma, so scallions are not necessarily needed for seasoning.