Low & Slow Scallion Oil
Low & Slow Scallion Oil, adapted from My Shanghai by Betty Liu
I’ve always got a few flavorful sauces hanging out in my fridge made from little scraps and ends. Number one reason is that I love the umami punch of flavor on everything from rice to scrambled eggs to instant noodles. No meal is boring if you’ve got fun condiments to spoon on top! But the true reason is because I have a bad habit of buying ingredients like scallions and then ignoring them for way too long, until something absolutely needs to be done with them before they reach the point of no return.
See below left for a picture of some slimy scallions with dried ends - the typical look of scallions that have been long neglected in my fridge. Luckily they’re totally redeemable, just pull off any slimy bits and dried ends. The photo on the right looks pretty good, doesn’t it? You can even use the tufted roots! I’ve eaten them roasted and grilled, and they can absolutely be chopped up and cooked into any kind of sauce or condiment.
Today I’m going to go over another super delicious type of scallion oils/sauces/spoon-onto-everything condiment: A low & slow version where the scallions hang out on your stove for about 30 minutes and get super sweet and soft and caramelly. There’s already a fast & furious version of Ginger-Scallion Oil (I like to chuck in some lettuce sometimes) where you pour sizzling hot oil on top and it’s ready to eat as soon as it cools down enough not to burn your tongue. That one requires some attention to detail though (highly recommended when dealing with boiling oil) whereas this one is very useful for when I’m cooking something else and it can just sit on the stovetop and be mostly ignored for 30 minutes.
This version is adapted from a Scallion Oil Noodles recipe from My Shanghai by Betty Liu, a gorgeous cookbook from an incredibly talented author and photographer. As I generally like to make things as easy as possible, it’s pretty simple. Tidy up your old scallions (pull off slimy outer layers, trim off dead ends, etc), chop them up, and pop them into a small pan of oil. Let them cook at a mellow simmer for about half an hour. Then you add in a bunch of pantry flavorings like soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar and that’s it! Adjust to your liking (could you add chili crisp? yes you could!) and spoon it over all your savory meals. Try it and I promise you’ll be overbuying scallions soon too.
