Herbs for Cooking ...

Thai "Tom Yam" - a delicious  hot, spicy, sweet, sour dish with all the aromatic herbs.....just thinking of it makes me salivates!!  There are many variations to cooking this dish, but in my opinion nothing beats  making a trip to Thailand just to taste this dish at its authentic best. Somehow the offerings here just doesn't seem to give the same 'kick', perhaps it is just psychological.  Anyway, back to talking on homegrown herbs.

This is the "Daun Limau Purut" or Kaffir Lime leaves. (  Citrux hystrix ) (Read more from this link : - http://www.pahang-delights.com/limau-purut.html). A neighbor who was moving house gave this plant to me about three years ago.  She said this plant  was grown from seeds.  Actually this plant  is more frequently propagated through grafting. Apparently the grafted plant will not bear fruits, but the ones grown from seeds will.  So far I have yet to see my plant flowers. For the Tom Yam dish, these kaffir leaves are essential.  In fact these kaffir lime leaves are used in many local dishes. I like the aromatic smell of these leaves. It just adds flavor to the spicy dishes one is cooking or salad preparation.  One of my favorite dish is the sambal sotong fried with prawns, tomatoes, chillies, etc. (Yes, I also love to dabble in cooking, except sadly I just can't master good cooking....perhaps should get a 'sifu' , then can improve...lol) . Once I forgot to add the leaves and immediately I received a complaint from you can guess who (lol)!    Without the leaves somehow the dish would taste flat!  The lime or fruit is not used for cooking, but supposed to be good for maintaining healthy hair growth.  Yes, hair....after washing with shampoo, just rub the juice of the lime into the scalp....let stand a couple of minutes, then wash....mmmm....exotic clean smell !

Below is the lemon grass bush, another essential ingredient to the Tom Yam. What is Tom Yam without this lemonly smell?  Overnight, lemon grass has become a health food. (can read this link : http://my.88db.com/my/Knowledge/Knowledge_Detail.page/Health-Medical/?kid=11068) .  People are promoting drinking the lemon grass tea.  Well, there is enough  literature in the internet if one is interested to read more about the lemon grass.  The lemon grass is easily grown. I bought a bunch of the lemon grass from the wet market. Just stick one or two in some water, and in a couple of days, roots will appear.  I planted mine alongside the drain beside the house. Well it will take 3-4 months before I can harvest some lemon grass for cooking. To take care of the plant, just ensure that it is watered well.  Feed it plenty of water and the lemon grass bulb will be big and juicy. I like to trim the leaves of the bush every now and then - as I cut them, the citronella scent released  is just heavenly....and the plus side? No more mosquitoes at least  for one night....! Well as they say, one man's food is another's poison.  Oh yes, mosquitoes are repelled by the scent from this lemon grass bush.  While cutting the leaves, one just  have to be careful about the fine hair that can irritate the skin, also the leaves are sharp like blades. Perhaps it is better to wear long gloves, but often I am careless.....!

 The trick to blogging is to keep things short and easy to read.....so I will continue more, meantime, go get a bowl of nice TOM YAM soup noodle or something.....yummy!