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Cilantro/Coriander leaves/Dhaniya in Indian Cooking


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While I do not do any Indian cooking, I always have cilantro in my fridge. I know there are many people who detest the taste of cilantro -- I have heard them say that it tastes "soapy" -- but I really love it. On my palate, it has a unique flavor, fresh and zingy. I use it in any number of dishes; for example, I incorporate it into certain bean salads; I sprinkle it on chili; and I use it as a garnish for baba ghanoush. I mainly use the leaves. While there may have been a time when it was difficult to find in my area of NJ, and only one specialty food market -- Delicious Orchards -- carried it, now it is in just about every supermarket. But I still prefer to buy it at DO because it is always freshest and cheapest there. I keep it wrapped in plastic in the fridge.

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For indian dishes, I throw it in the end. I love the leaves and coriander seeds. My mother went through a phrase in the 80s of serving it in her tomato sauce for pasta.

To keep it fresh, you can wash it and put in in an empty yogurt container/jar in the fridge under a plastic bag--sort of maintains a biosphere. I have found to keep any herb fresh, its best to wash it and then make sure it is dry.

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As leaves they are best kept to the end of cooking as they lose their flavour quickly.

In Non indian cooking ( Moroccan is a good eg, )I like to saute them with lemon rind and pour over a Tagine like a tarka

They also make an interesting tea with ginger root

S

Edited by Simon Majumdar (log)
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As leaves they are best kept to the end of cooking as they lose their flavour quickly.

In Non indian cooking ( Moroccan is a good eg, )I like to saute them with lemon rind and pour over a Tagine like a tarka

They also make an interesting tea with ginger root

S

How do you make this tea?

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For the longest time, I fought a terrible battle against wanting to garnish everything I cooked with fresh cilantro. With the exception of some Italian pasta sauces (very few) and dessert, I could not think of anything that would not be improved by the addition of cilantro.

Now, I have grown and matured, and developed some restraint!

:)

I use it now in typical Indian ways, in tarkas, chutneys and as a garnish. On Thai food, on cheese and crackers with a wee bit of tamarind sauce, on mexican food, in empanadas. I sometimes sprinkle it on my potato chips which I use in lieu of papads, especially with bisi beli bhaath.

:)

The seeds I used to flavor rasams and dals, sometimes pilafs.

I wash the stems when I buy the bunch and then I leave the roots on and put the whole bunch in a big coffee mug filled with water. Mostly, I just toss it in the chiller drawer because I go through it faster than it perishes.

I use the stems and leaves, like p2

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I love cilantro! I've never cooked any Indian dishes, but use it with Mexican/soutwestern and Thai dishes. "Hot Barbeque", our favorite summer grill bible uses it in most of their recipes. I use the leaves and the stems.

KathyM

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