Food for Thought - A Few Stalks of Green Chives

Recently, a childhood playmate came across an Internet article on chives. According to this unknown Chinese author of the write-up, this less-known cousin of the venerable garlic had, among other things, helped him keep his blood sugar in check. It appears this plant of the allium family  is full of essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and others*.

My dear friend also reminded me of the happy days we spent in front of bowls of steaming hot dumplings. The perogy-like doughy meals we had at that time were always stuffed with scrambled eggs and chopped up chives. But over the years, I noticed chive did not seem to be a common and popular ingredient in our everyday cooking.

In the old days, it was quite a job when making the dumplings from scratch. Now with the wrappers made of wheat flour readily available at supermarkets, this everyday fare for residents in northern China has become a simple meal to prepare. Dumplings made with eggs and chives are a complete meal by itself. As you can see, it includes all three essential food groups: starch, veggie, and protein.

Matter of fact, boiled dumpling was the most requested dish at our family reunions. We had always used ground turkey or chicken with Chinese cabbages as the fillings in the past. From now on, thanks to my newly acquired knowledge on chives,  we will have  an extra choice of stuffings when preparing this mouth-watering goodies. - Ayee

* See Wikipedia on chives