Homemade scallion oil is a secret weapon to cook dinner with less prep and to add extra flavor to your dish. {vegan, gluten-free}
No matter making a quick stir fry, roasted vegetables, a comforting casserole, or a simple salad, fresh herbs play an important role to add flavors to your dish without using more salt. However, you might not be in the mood to peel garlic or chop onions for a weekday dinner after a long busy day.
Making herb infused oil ahead of time provides a perfect shortcut without compromising the flavor of your dish.
Take this scallion oil as an example, when you use it to replace vegetable oil or olive oil when roasting cauliflower, it makes the vegetables much more fragrant than simply using salt and black peppers seasoning. When you mix the scallion oil with a few drops of soy sauce and sugar, it makes a flavorful noodle bowl in a few minutes. For a quick shrimp fried rice dish, using scallion oil will save you extra time to wash and chop herbs, and make your rice as flavorful as it should be.
Making scallion oil is super easy.
All you need is simmering chopped green onion, shallot and oil in a pan for 40 to 60 minutes. During the cooking you only need to check the oil every few times without monitoring the pan the whole time. So, the whole process involves very little active cooking time.
Once the oil is done, you will get a jar of fragrant oil that can be stored in the fridge for a few months, and a plate of crispy shallot that you can use as noodle bowl toppings.
Below are a few ways you can use this magic oil:
- Replace vegetable oil (or olive oil) when roasting vegetables (roasted cauliflowers, roasted carrot).
- Use it in stir fried vegetables dishes, such as zucchini with black bean sauce and fried cabbage.
- Use it in fried rice recipes without chopping herbs (shrimp fried rice, chicken fried rice).
- Use it in noodle salad for quick side dish.
- Use it in any casserole dish to add aroma (chicken rice casserole).
This recipe is a part of my stir-fry sauce series, to demonstrate how to make Chinese sauces and herb oil ahead of time, and use them to shorten your dinner preparation time.
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Homemade Scallion Oil
Ingredients
- 2 cups peanut oil (or grapeseed oil, or vegetable oil)
- 5 (230-g / 1/2-lbs) shallots (or onions)
- 4 bundles (230-g / 1/2-lbs) green onions
Instructions
- Chop green onions to 5-cm (2-inch) pieces. Thinly slice shallot.
- Line a fine mesh over a large heatproof bowl.
- Add oil into a large pan (or wok). Add shallots or onions into one side and green onions on the other side.
- Cook over medium heat until the oil is brought to a boil. Press ingredients with a pair of tongs to submerge them in the oil.
- Turn to medium low heat. Cook for 40 to 60 minutes, or until the shallots turn golden brown and the green onions turns dark brown. Check the pan after 30 minutes. Gently flip the ingredients with a pair of tongs to ensure even cooking. Keep cooking and check the pan every 10 minutes. When the onions turn golden, they will start to cook rather fast – so watch closely at this stage.
- Remove the pan from the heat immediately when the ingredients are cooked, as the residual heat will keep cooking the ingredients and they can be easily burned.
- Transfer the fried onions and the fried green onions to the fine mesh over the heatproof bowl, gently press with the back of a spoon to drain extra oil. You could also drain these two ingredients separately, to use them in different dishes later. Once cooled, transfer them to a airtight container.
- Once the oil has cooled off completely, transfer it to an airtight jar. Store it in the fridge up to 3 months.
Can you repeat recipe for chicken w orange csauce? John Soucy at
[email protected]
Hi John, you can fine the chicken with orange sauce recipe here: https://omnivorescookbook.com/orange-chicken/
Surprisingly fragrant! I love this oil, especially to make Cong You Ban Mian. I’m planning on making a second batch soon because this oil is now a staple in my pantry.