Garlic Scapes lightly stir fried with dried shrimp is just sooo good.
Garlic scapes or Maneuljjong 마늘쫑 is one of those vegetables that is still only available for a short period of time (May and June) in a year. I am old enough to remember the days when most vegetables and fruits were seasonal and the change of seasons brought excitement to me, dreaming about how fabulous strawberries would be or how wonderfully cooling a watermelon would be when they are in season. Now, everything is available all year around and I think life is less exciting just because of that.
When I was growing up in Korea, we could never get watermelons in the winter and I just LOVED watermelons. The price of watermelons started really high early in the season and then got lower as the days got warmer. I think I was 7 or 8, when I came down with the measles and was burning up with a pretty high fever. I also had very little appetite (which was a very rare thing for me) and my mom asked me what I wanted to eat. Immediately I asked for watermelons even though I knew it was not really in season yet. My mom said, “Let me see what I can do..”. She went out and came back with an expensive watermelon which was probably not even really ripe.. but to me, it tasted like candy. I felt pretty special and I thought to myself, ‘hey, this measles thing is not too bad..?!!’..hahaha.
Sadly, I don’t think I have ever seen garlic scapes at regular grocery stores in the US even when it is in season. So when I see them at my local Korean grocery store, I always buy it because it just may not be there next time I visit. For those of you who have cannot find any Korean or Asian grocer stores nearby, it seems there’s a good chance you can buy them at a good farmer’s market in May or June. Also, I am sure you can order them online at gourmet produce stores that specialize in garlic like this one.
Of all the Korean garlic scape recipes, I think the most popular garlic scape (maneuljjong 마늘쫑) recipe is probably Maneuljjong Jangahjji ( Garlic Scape Pickles). You are certainly welcome to make pickles with them. Click on And then the next one would be this stir fried version that’s made with dried shrimp (maleun saewoo 마른새우) which is then called either Maneuljjong Maleun Saewoo Bokkeum or Maleun Saewoo Maneuljjong Bokkeum. The order of the words change depending on which part you want to emphasize.. haha..
Raw garlic scapes can be quite strong but when they are cooked, the flavors get milder and as long as you don’t cook it too much, the texture remains quite crunchy so it is really wonderful. Besides stir frying, you can use chopped garlic scapes in fried rice, grill them whole, add them in pesto (this will be strong!) and even make garlic butter with them.
BTW – This was a very spontaneous cooking/photo taking post (I was actually working on another post but realized this was more time sensitive) so please excuse for any rough photos. 😉
Korean Garlic Scapes Stir Fry (Gluten Free)
Servings: 2-3 Prep Time: 5 min Cook Time: 5 min Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
- 5 oz garlic scapes (140g)
- 2 oz dried shrimp (60g)
- 1 Tbs vegetable oil
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- Sauce
- 4 tsp sugar
- 4 tsp soy sauce (jin ganjang)
- 1 Tbsp rice wine
- Rinse garlic scapes with water and then cut each of the garlic scape stems 1.5 inch long. Use just the stems and discard the the stringy parts including the flower buds.
- Measure about 2 oz of dried shrimps and 5 oz of cut garlic scapes. It would be nice if I can just say ‘a bunch’ but each bunch size is so different, it’s hard to say…it should be roughly about 1 cup each. Not a huge deal if there’s a bit more or less. You will just have to adjust the seasoning.
Shrimp and Garlic scapes for Maneuljjong Bokkeum - Make sauce by mixing 4 tsp sugar, 4 tsp soy sauce and 1 Tbsp rice wine. Set aside.
- Heat a frying pan on medium high heat drizzled with 1 Tbs vegetable oil.
- Add garlic scapes and stir fry for 1 min.
Garlic Scape sauteeing in pan - Add dried shrimps and stir fry for 1 min.
Garlic Scape Stir Fry with Shrimp Maneuljjong Bokkeum - Add sauce and lower heat to medium. Stir fry for 2 min or so until evenly coated and sauce is mostly reduced.
Garlic Scape Dried Shrimp Side Dish - Turn heat off and sprinkle sesame seeds. Transfer to another dish or plate. Don’t leave it in the pan because it will end up cooking too much in residual heat. Mine cooked a little more than what I would have liked because I was busy taking photos…
Notes
- There are many different kinds of dried shrimps and some may have the heads intact which means there may be some hard, pointy things on the head that can scrape your mouth. Trim off hard pointy horn looking thing from the head if you need to.
- Substitute walnuts or strips of lightly seasoned beef or pork instead of dried shrimp if they are hard to find. Or just stir fry garlic scapes only.
- Great for lunch boxes.
Garlic Scape Stir Fry with Dried Shrimp (Maneuljjong Bokkeum)
Ingredients
- 5 oz garlic scapes
- 2 oz dried shrimp
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Wash and clean garlic scapes and then cut each of the garlic scape stems 1.5 inch long. Use just the stems and discard the the stringy parts including the flower buds.
- Measure about 2 oz of dried shrimps and 5 oz of cut garlic scapes. It would be nice if I can just say a bunch but each bunch size is so different, it's hard to say...it should be roughly about 1 cup each. Not a huge deal if there's a bit more or less. You will just have to adjust the seasoning.
- Make sauce by mixing 4 tsp sugar, 4 tsp soy sauce and 1 Tbsp rice wine. Set aside.
- Heat a frying pan on medium high heat drizzled with 1 Tbs vegetable oil.
- Add garlic scapes and stir fry for 1 min.
- Add dried shrimps and stir fry for 1 min.
- Add sauce and lower heat to medium. Stir fry for 2 min or so until evenly coated and sauce is mostly reduced.
- Turn heat off and sprinkle sesame seeds. Transfer to another dish or plate. Don't leave it in the pan because it will end up cooking too much in residual heat.
Tips & Notes:
- Substitutions: add walnuts or think strips of beef or pork for shrimp.
- Great for lunch boxes.
- Serve at room temperature as side dish.
- Use Tamari soy sauce or any good gluten free soy sauce to make Gluten Free version
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