A dish to get hot and bothered over

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I started working on this recipe last summer. To my family’s joy, I cooked and ate several batches while testing to get the consistency that I liked best. Then, overnight, garlic chive season was over in New York. I had lost my window to share the recipe.

But here we are again, twelve months later. Garlic chives are now at the market, and so now is the time to enjoy Thai Chive Pancake, aka Gui chai Tod.

It is hot right now, and no one wants to cook, I get it. Especially a dish that requires quite a bit of heat to prepare it. But if you are curious to try making these for yourself, while garlic chives are available and seasonal from the market, you must turn on the stovetop, and suffer through the heat. Through the pain, there great rewards await. I absolutely love making these.

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This is not a weeknight meal made with pantry ingredients, but a more technical recipe that is more ‘weekend project’ in vibe.

Crispy Thai chive pancakes (Gui chai Tod) are my favourite appetizer from Thai restaurants. They are very green, with a punchy, heady perfume from the garlic chives. The exterior is crispy and golden, while the inside is bouncy and elastic. I love them so much, as do my kids. And it really bugged me that I couldn’t work out how to make them.

I consulted the hot Thai kitchen blog. And that began a new learning experience.

My adventure started last New York summer, when the temperatures were soaring and the air thick with humidity. Whenever I found garlic chives at my local market, I would make a batch, using the recipe on Hot Thai Kitchen blog, with a few amendments here and there. I spent a lot of the summer perfecting the ratios of starch to garlic chives to get the perfect bounce. I like them softer and chewier so I upped the tapioca starch and reduced the rice flour. You can definitely play around with the starch ratios to get the texture you personally prefer. I saw some other recipes which include some glutinous rice flour too, and I am assuming this would make them more elastic.

This is a several step recipe. The chives are first marinated to tenderise them. Then a batter is made and then mixed with the softened chives. Next, the mixture is steamed to make a ‘cake’, which is then cut into pieces and fried. It takes a little time, but it is actually quite simple if you take it one task at a time. And the results are worth it. It is a recipe that will make you feel like an excellent cook. After spending a lot of last summer perfecting the ratios of starch to garlic chives to get the perfect bounce, I now freely commend myself every time I make it. It is an achievement.

Garlic chives are often hard to come by. Right now, they are available from the greenmarkets around New York. They should be more available at Asian supermarkets. This is one of those recipes that I will only make whenever I come across garlic chives.

After all that steaming and deep-frying, you might need a no-cook salad? Here are a few.

NEW ON NYT COOKING:

This is a recipe from my heart. When I first became a vegetarian, I made lentil loaves all the time, and now, I have shared one in The New York Times. This one is so delicious, hearty, comforting, a great option for Thanksgiving and holiday tables. I need to work on more lentil loaf recipes, there are so many options ;)

© Recipe copyright Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love, 2026

Crispy Thai chive pancakes (Gui chai Tod) are my go-to appetizer at Thai restaurants. For years, I was curious about how to make them. They reminded me a lot of my favourite Chinese chewy treats from childhood. This recipe is a bit of a project - all the steps are quite simple but it does take some time. A fun one if you want to try something new and learn a lot at the same time.

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