In search of coriander roots

Earlier this year I decided to embark on a project to cook every recipe out of Alford/Duguid's "Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet" cookbook. So far it's been a great experience and very educational. I'm nearing the end of the project, though, and I've encountered the first ingredient that has been difficult to find: coriander roots. So far, I've checked every market down Argyle street, the Thai Grocery on Broadway, the market next to Dong Ky, and Golden Pacific to no avail. Is there someplace else I should be looking? Would H-Mart have coriander roots? Any help would be appreciated.

Coriander is just cilantro -- while Jewel and Dominicks tend to sell neatly trimmed bunches, Asian and Mexican markets are more likely to have them with intact roots.

I haven't seen any dishes that need the roots whole -- if you do, there may be no substitute. But for Thai dishes like larb or nam tak, I've been pretty satisfied with the results just mincing up the stems finely, if I can't get a hold of roots.

glink wrote: Is there someplace else I should be looking? Would H-Mart have coriander roots? Any help would be appreciated.

Glink,

I too have gone on a hard-target search for coriander root for Thai cookery, to (mostly) no avail, though occasionally Thai Grocery does stock them. I have not done so, but as they are very customer interactive at Thai Grocery I am guessing they would special order coriander root for you.

Enjoy,
Gary

Thai Grocery Inc
5014 N Broadway St
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 561-5345

Carniceria Nuevo Leon (whatever it is now called) Ashland at Balckhawk always has live cilantro, root down in water.

Whole Foods on North sells cilantro with the roots. I also needed them for recipes from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet - a GREAT cookbook. IIRC, you need the roots for the black pepper/garlic paste that can be used in a chicken recipe or for the whole roasted snapper. Both are excellent. I also heartily recommend making the spicy fish curry, I believe it is Laotian. I can't remember the exact name for the recipe but it calls for frying pieces of whitefish, such as tilapia, in a wok, and making a simple sauce with coconut milk and a curry paste of shallots and scallions. Its outstanding.

The recipe for laab in this book drives me BONKERS, because it calls for neither lime juice nor fish sauce.

Just one of my pet peeves with this book.

I'm not sure which version you are talking about - because the recipe for the northern thai version, (p. 196) does call for both fish sauce and lime juice. The other version in the book, Shan style, does not. It specifies that that is because the meat is fried, and not poached, as Thai laab is.
I am by no means an expert but the documentation in this cookbook certainly makes it seem very authentic. Do you feel otherwise?

There are two versions?!!!

OK, that makes sense.... thanks for pointing that out!!

I share your quest for hard-to-find Thai ingredients.

Just last week I was at the new Dominick's on Chicago Ave. in Ukrainian Village and I noticed that all the cilantro bunches had roots! This is the kind of thing that gets me excited, so I bought several bunches.

When I have extra, I cut off the roots, vacuum seal them and freeze them... it works pretty well. This also works for lemongrass, galangal (ginza) and kaffir lime leaves.

As others have mentioned, I usually get these at Thai Grocery (5014 N Broadway) or Broadway Supermarket (4879 N Broadway). Both can be hit and miss on having these things in stock.

C Dave

Has anyone had success freezing mint leaves? Seems such a shame to use a few and have the rest of the bunch go bad by the end of the week.

For me, mint leaves don't freeze so well, but Keffir Lime leaves do.
I haven't had much trouble finding Galangal or Lemongrass lately, thanks to H-Mart. I should try grating and freezing ice-cube-sized portions of galangal, though, and some thin slices for soup.

I almost always use up any cilantro I buy very quickly, so storage isn't often a concern. But a few months ago I accidentally bought more than I could use, so I placed a bunch or two, stems down, into a vase with water. I put it on an out-of-the-way windowsill, then completely forgot about it. When I finally looked over at it again - maybe 6-8 weeks later - Voilà! - it had grown roots. Not huge roots, but a quantity substantial enough for at least one or two recipes.

On a mildly-related sidenote, I had no herbs at all in house last night when I used some leftover roast chicken to make larb. The closest I could find in my fridge was the 2 inches of leaves left on the celery root I bought over the weekend at the Farmers Market. Celery leaves made a tasty, if inauthentic, addition to larb kai.

Saint Pizza wrote:Has anyone had success freezing mint leaves? Seems such a shame to use a few and have the rest of the bunch go bad by the end of the week.

Whirl them up with a little water in the blender. Then freeze in ice-cube trays.

Galangal (and ginger and turmeric) roots freeze just fine as is. But you have to use them while they're still frozen, since they turn into mush upon defrosting. I just grate them frozen on a fine microplane which gives excellent results: the roots' flavor is fresh and authentic.

Geo

Great post on harvesting coriander roots on one of my favorite food blogs--She Simmers. I'm hoping it's not too late in the season because I'm going to try this.

I harvested my cilantro roots today. They were a little skimpy because 1) I started them a little late, 2) the pot was a little too shallow, 3) the squirrels on my patio really like Asian food (chiles, asian eggplant, cilantro) and they kept trying to dig up the plants and 4) I kept forgetting to water them. But, there were a lot of them so I got a pretty nice yield. Apparently, they can be frozen. So, after I soak them, I plan to chop them up and freeze them for this winter.