To chop garlic, chilies and other small ingredients that need to be finely chopped, you need to learn the ‘rocking’ knife technique. Just follow these steps.
The knife you use must be a cook’s knife with a tapered blade. They come in various sizes but all have this shape:
Garlic
Before we start, a word about garlic. The whole, white-skinned bulb is called a ‘head’. The interior, small and usually purple-skinned pieces are called ‘cloves’. Most recipes deal in ‘cloves’. So 1 clove is one small purple piece. In the picture below, the head is at the top, and you can see the internal cloves and also one that has been removed. Once you rip open the garlic head the cloves pop out easily.
Jake sticks his nose in
Don’t confuse the ‘head’ of garlic with the ‘clove’. Most recipes only call for 2 or 3 cloves. Don’t use 2 or 3 heads!
First top and tail your garlic clove, i.e. cut a small section off the top and bottom. Then peel off the dry purple skin. You should end up with a nice, clean clove:
Cut the clove roughly with a knife until you have small pieces:
Now you need to ‘rock’ your knife over the pieces of garlic. To do this, put one hand on the top of the tip of the knife to anchor it, and rock the knife up and down over the garlic using the handle. Once you get good at this you can go really fast and chop fine in seconds. But practice slowly at first to get the technique.
Regroup the garlic into a tight pile as you go, and continue chopping until you have a really fine result:
You’ve now got perfectly chopped garlic! You can pick it up on the blade of your knife and add straight to the dish you are cooking, or set aside.
Chillies
Chopping chillies is very similar, in that you need to rock the knife. You also start by top and tailing, i.e. cutting the stalk end off and a small section of the tip:
Jake sticks his nose in
Chillies come in all shapes and sizes, and all levels of heat. In general, the smaller ones are hotter – but do taste before adding to make sure. Whatever the size, the method to chop them is the same.
You now need to prep your chilli for chopping. Chillies vary in spiciness, but generally the heat is focused in the seeds and, particularly, the white or pale internal pith. Keep these if you want is spicier; remove if you don’t. The below is a bird’s eye chilli and very hot so we removed the seeds and pith. Slit the chilli along its length, then remove the interior:
Jake sticks his nose in
When chillies are hot, they can burn. Don’t touch your face, and particularly eyes, when handling. Scrub your hands thoroughly afterwards, or wear gloves.
You are now ready to chop your chilli, usually this has to be done until it is really fine. Start by cutting the chillies into small pieces:
You are now ready to ‘rock’ your knife over the chilli to chop fine. Do this as in the garlic example above, i.e. put one hand on the top of the tip of the knife to anchor it, and rock the knife up and down over the chilli using the handle:
Well done, you now have a perfectly chopped fresh chilli! You can slide this onto the blade of your knife and add directly to your dish, or set aside.
