Does bawang na mura or spring garlic sound unfamiliar to you? If it does, click here so that you’ll have a better idea about the two dishes that I’m going to show you. There are two recipes in this entry, one for fried rice and the other for a stir-fried dish, and both include spring garlic among the ingredients. No great mystery. Spring garlic is prepared in very much the same way as spring onion, a.k.a. onion leaves, scallions (not to be confused with shallots), or dahon ng sibuyas, except that, these days, I peel off the outermost layer of the leaves and bulb which I find too fibrous for eating. I didn’t always do that but I do now better practice. Other than that, it’s just a matter of cutting off the roots, trimming the top ends, and cutting or slicing.
Let me start with the first recipe, a stir-fried dish with chicken thigh fillets, Eryngii mushrooms, and spring garlic. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle lightly with salt and liberally with pepper. Cut the garlic bulbs into quarters and the leaves into two-inch lengths. Cut or slice the mushrooms into bite-size pieces.
Heat the cooking oil in a work. Add the chicken and stir fry until the edges are lightly browned. Add the mushrooms, spring garlic, and onion. Pour in the soy sauce. Stir fry for about a minute or just until the mushrooms are done. Simple and delicious.
Chicken, pesto, and yogurt salad
For some reason, chicken and macaroni salad is a fixture in the Filipino Christmas and New Year menu. It’s one of the side dishes that I’m planning on serving for the New Year family reunion because I feel it should go well with roast stuffed turkey and the grilled meat that’s already on the list. But I’m serving my chicken and macaroni salad with a twist this time.
Chicken and yogurt salad
We’re cutting down on the fat by using less mayonnaise and adding fruit-flavored yogurt instead. And this salad is more aromatic with the inclusion of lemon juice and rind. For a variety in texture, it has seedless grapes and toasted almonds. Finally, for an unexpected kick, a small amount of pesto. I did a dry run of the recipe about a month ago and the result was surprisingly good.