Chillies and Cilantro

The terrible jam in the Klang Valley due the CNY exodus.

The tired siblings.....getting through the jam.


My cousin Zue asked me,"What is cilantro?".The Americans call the coriander leaves, cilantro after the Spanish. The Malays call it daun ketumbar. It is also known as Chinese parsley.

Chillies and cilantro are common ingredients in Chinese and Indian cooking. Some Mexican cooking also use cilantro. I chose chillies and cilantro for the title of my blog to denote the different varieties of food found in our country. Also to show how the culture has intertwined and evolved in Malaysia. Chillies and cilantro would be like yin and yang.There are compatible, one hot while the other is cool. Among the older Malays, cilantro as leaves is still unknown and unpopular, although the seeds are frequently used in Malay cuisine.

Coriander seeds are also known to be a diuretic and can be used as a detoxifying agent. The cilantro leaves can be blended in water and drunk to remove the body of heavy metals.

The last time I was in Laos, I noticed that cilantro leaves were commonly used as garnishing in Indian dishes at the Indian restaurants that I went.

The steamed fish recipe below uses both fresh red chillies and cilantro leaves:

Ingredients:

1 garoupa fish (450g). You can also use any white but not fatty fish such as the dragon fish (gelama pisang) or freshwater fish such as tilapia.

A:
100g vegetable pickle (radish or cabbage) 50g spring onions 10g young ginger 10g black mushroom 1 fresh red chilli 1 tomato

Cut and slice all of the above vegetables.

B:
300ml fish stock 1/4 soup cube, if preferred 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp sesame oil 2 tbsp soya sauce 100g balance of oil after frying chicken

Mix the ingredients in red font.

C:(Garnish)
10g cilantro leaves

Clean the fish and remove scales if any.Slit the sides.

Pour the ingredients B on the fish and sprinkle A on top.

Place fish in a steamer and steam for 10 minutes. Serve hot with cooked white rice.

Garnish with cut cilantro leaves. You may also use sliced raw carrots as garnishing if you like.

The other method is to steam the fish alone and heat the sauce ingredients A and B mixed with 2 tsp cornflour to thicken it. The sauce is then added to the steamed fish.