Spring Onions, these are known as scallions, salad onions, green onions and cibies. They are simply a member of the Alliums family whose root divides into separate plants instead of forming a bulb. Spring onions are used in salads as the flavour tends to be milder than other onions. It is used widely in oriental food both as an ingredient and as a garnish. Spring onions can have an outer skin in many colours including coppery red and purple.

What would a kitchen be without the distinctively pungent smell and taste of spring onions filling out the flavours of almost every type of cuisine imaginable?

Spring onions come from the onion family and food historians believe that they originated in Central Asia, Iran or West Pakistan but nobody is quite sure. Our ancestors ate wild onions and probably they ate it with the green. This simple vegetable was a major staple in the pre-historic diet. It was probably one of the first domesticated crops, easy to grow, easy to transport. Over 5000 years ago, green onions grew in Chinese gardens. They are mentioned in Vedic and Egyptian writings. There are tablets confirming that the Sumerians were growing these 4500 years ago. The onion bulb was worshipped as the symbol of the universe by the Egyptians.

Its medicinal values are tremendous. Dioscorides, a Greek physician 2000 years ago, mentioned that the athletes used to drink spring onion juice to strengthen them for their Olympic games. The Romans says it improves poor vision as the greens are high in beta carotene.

Spring onion chicken
Ingredients:
2 chicken thighs
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 stalks spring onion
a few slices ginger
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp rice wine
1 pc rock sugar
1/4 cup water or chicken broth

Method:
Debone chicken and cut into pieces. Marinate with dark soy sauce and set aside for about 15 minutes.
Heat up 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a wok. While doing so, cut spring onion on the bias into one and a half inch pieces. Cut ginger into slices.
Stir fry garlic and chicken until chicken changes color.
Set aside.
Stir fry ginger and spring onions until fragrant. Add chicken, rice wine, rock sugar and water (or chicken broth). Mix well, cover wok and allow to braise over low heat for about 10 minutes.

Risotto With Prawn Lemon Spring Onion And Basil
Ingredients:
Olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped 
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
150 gm risotto rice
75 ml white wine
750 ml warm light vegetable stock
A bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced
150 gm cooked peeled prawns
3 tablespoons low-fat crème fraîche
A squeeze of lemon
1/2 bunch of basil, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Heat some oil and gently fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Add the rice and continue frying for two minutes. Add the wine and continue stirring until the wine is absorbed.
Now start to add the stock, ladle by ladle, stirring until the stock is absorbed between each spoonful.
Give the risotto lots of tender loving care, by stirring regularly, and the creamy starch will come out of each grain. Continue like this for 10 to 15 minutes.
Add the spring onion to the risotto, continue cooking for five minutes and then add the prawns and crème fraîche.
Now this is the important point. You need the rice to be al dente, which means firm-to-bite (not soft and overcooked), so keep tasting it until it is time to take it off the heat (it will probably need another five minutes). Add a squeeze of lemon and stir through the basil. Check the seasoning and then, for the final touch, grate some lemon zest over the top.