Stir-fried garlic scapes

Whenever the season changes, I always love to see the fresh, new ingredients available at the farmers’ market and the Korean grocery store. I love to cook with these ingredients, and I love to eat them, but I’m sometimes not sure if I should use them in my recipe videos, because they might be unfamiliar to a lot of people.

Today’s recipe uses garlic scapes, called maneuljjong in Korean, which are well known and popular in Korea, and I found out they are becoming more popular in the West as well. That’s good news because they are so fresh and delicious, and when they are in season in May and June they are perfectly fresh and tender.

This recipe is for maneuljjong-bokkeum (마늘쫑볶음), stir fried garlic scapes, which is how I usually prepare my garlic scapes. It’s sweet, chewy, crispy, and salty, and when garlic scapes are stir fried like this with a bit of mulyeot they take on a wonderful texture, which is kind of soft and jelly-like but still crispy. It’s hard to describe! Can you imagine?

I hope you like the recipe, and I’m posting this now because garlic scapes are in season right now and it’s the perfect time to make this side dish. Run out now and get some, and let me know how your maneuljjong-bokkeum turns out!

Ingredients

(serves 4)

• 1 pound garlic scapes
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice syrup (or corn syrup, sugar or honey)
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
• a few strips of shredded red pepper (optional)

Directions

1. Cut off the buds of the garlic scrapes and put them in a bowl. Cut the stems into 2 inch long bite size pieces. Wash and drain the buds and the stems separately.
2. Heat up a skillet with the cooking oil. Stir-fry the buds for 1 minute over medium high heat and then add the stems.
3. Stir for about 8 to 10 minutes until the color of the scapes change from fresh green to olive green and look a little withered. Taste a sample to see if they’re well cooked. 
4. Add the soy sauce and lower the heat to medium. Stir for a few minutes. Add the rice syrup and keep stirring for another 3 to 5 minutes until shiny, wrinkly, and well cooked.
5. Remove from the heat and mix with the sesame oil. Transfer it to a serving plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds and silgochu if you use it. Serve as a side dish for rice. It can be stored in the refrigerator up to 1 week.