Long Coriander

An old  friend messaged me recently to ask about the herb on the right. It is known by many names. I called it Long Coriander. The herb was featured in Astro's Asian Food Channel recently but they called it Saw Tooth Coriander. I might as well throw in a more impressive name. Eryngium foetidum. For more information read HERE. This herb is known to originate from the Caribbeans. It was brought to South East Asia by Jesuit priests. The herb featured prominently in Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, and a little less prominently in my kitchen.

Saw-tooth coriander

I used it for steaming fish dishes, not that I'm nuts about fish dishes but the herb does rid the fish of its fishy smell. Here's one of my favourite non-fish recipe:

Hard Tofu and Coriander

1. Cut two blocks of hard tofu into bite-size slices. Lightly fry them with a pinch of salt in a little oil.
2. Push the tofu to the side of the wok and add chopped garlic to the remaining oil.
3. Add peeled and veined prawns to the browned garlic.
4. Add a little water to this mixture and let it simmer for a while.
5. Optional: Add chicken stock or oyster sauce. (I don't add any of those. The prawn is good enough for me.)
6. Add shredded long coriander.
7. Voila! An aromatic and appetizing dish all ready and done.

Apart from its culinary uses, this herb is also used for traditional cures.  Burns, earache, fevers, hypertension, constipation, fits, asthma, stomach-ache, worms, infertility complications, snake bites, diarrhoea, malaria and epilepsy, just to name a few. Eric, a family friend told me how his grandmother used to chew on one of these in the morning. I can't remember what it was supposed to cure anyway.

The next time I make one of those char-siew pau, I'm going to add this herb into the ingredient just to see if it gets us anywhere sensational.

Coriander seeds

At the centre of the star-shaped structure is a short stalk covered with seeds. The seeds turn brown when it ripens.

It was said that these seeds were used in Indian cuisine but I know nothing about that.