Chive Cakes
Chive cakes are a popular appetizer found on many Thai menus and can usually be purchased frozen; but making them from scratch at home is light years better. There’s a lot of steps in making the chive cakes; all fairly simple. You can find Chinese chives, aka garlic chives, along with rice, glutinous rice, and tapioca flours at every Asian market. The chives are sautéed, then mixed in with the gluten-free batter. The batter is then poured into a springform pan and steamed. There are two really important steps that can’t be skipped in this process. You have to cover the springform pan inside the steamer with a towel. If you don’t, the steamer condensation will ruin the consistency of the batter. The other step is that the chive cake has to completely cool before you cut it into triangles. The chive cakes will only get crispy if you pan fry them while cooled. When ready to pan fry, heat up some cooking oil on a griddle. Cook them for 5 minutes a side until they are crispy. The chive cakes are served with a dipping sauce that is sweet soy based. These chive cakes are garlicky, crispy, and chewy on the inside, making this appetizer a go to for me.
Equipment
- steamer
- 8” springform pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb Chinese chives chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil plus more for frying
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1/4 cup glutinous rice flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1 1/4 cup warm water
Dipping Sauce
- 1/4 cup kecap manis
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 2 Thai red chilies thinly sliced
Instructions
- Heat up 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the garlic for 1 minute.
- Add in the chives. Season with 1/2 tsp of salt.
- Sauté for 5 minutes. Let cool.
- Mix together the 3 flours, 1 tsp of salt, and warm water to form a batter.
- Stir in the chives.
- Grease an 8” springform pan. Pour in the batter.
- Place the springform pan in a steamer with 1” of water. Place a towel over the springform pan so condensation doesn’t collect on the chive cake. Cover and steam for 30 minutes.
- Let the chive cake cool completely. Cut into 8 pieces.
- Heat up 3 tbsp of cooking oil on a griddle or in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the chive cakes to the pan, making sure that none of the pieces are touching.
- Cook for 5 minutes a side until the chive cakes are crispy.
- While the chive cakes are cooking, heat up all of the dipping sauce ingredients in a small pan until the sugar dissolves; about 2 minutes.
