When learning our family’s recipes, you’ll find an array of aromatics and herbs that you may not have come across before. I completely understand – it can be overwhelming, especially when the names are unfamiliar.
Trust me, grocery shopping with Grandma in Asian supermarkets and learning the vegetable names in Chinese then cross-checking them to match their English-equivalent was no easy feat!
It was well worth it though, and now I get to present my FINALISED list to you! Below are Asian aromatics and vegetables (predominantly from Southeast Asia) that you’ll find in our recipes.
I’ve also included their names and images so you can be easily show them to shopkeepers if need be!
And if you’d like to learn about the Asian vegetables and leafy greens we use in our cooking, click here!
Herbs
We love a good heap of Asian herbs because it gives every noodle soup an aromatic kick as a garnish and freshens up our favorite Summer salad combos. Here are the ones we love to use in our recipes:
Thai Basil
Thai basil is different to your Italian or hot Thai basil. It’s commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisine and grows best in warmer climates.
- Alternative names: Húng quế (Vietnamese).
- Taste: Licorice- and anise-like with mildly sweet and spicy undertones.
- Culinary Use: Thai basil is typically as a garnish or condiment over noodle soups. It can also be mixed in with Asian salads to add freshness and flavor.
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Perilla
Perilla comes in two colors (purple or green). They’re closely tied with the mint family and can be found growing in many parts of the world.
- Alternative names: Tiá Tô (Vietnamese), Zǐsū 紫蘇 (Chinese), Shiso シソ (Japanese), Ggaetnip 깻잎 (Koean).
- Taste: Peppery with hints of licorice and anise.
- Culinary Use: Perilla is often used in Vietnamese noodle soups and salad or added to wraps. In Korean cuisine, they can be made into a kimchi. Japanese cooking sometimes uses perilla for patties or as a grilled wrap.
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Coriander a.k.a Cilantro
Coriander is one of those ingredients that has caused many heated debates. It seems as though there are two clearly divided parties on this particular herb – you either love it or you hate it.
- Alternative names: Chinese parsely (English), cilanto (US English), 芫茜 (Jyun Sai; Cantonese), Rau Mùi (Vietnamese), ผักชี P̄hạkchī (Thai).
- Taste:
- For those who love it: Musky with an overlay of fresh citrus.
- For those who hate it: Like soap with a foul aftertaste.
- Culinary Use: Coriander is used as a condiment to dishes, often served fresh. It adds a wonderful artistic flair when garnished over food.
Vietnamese Coriander
This tropical herb enjoys growing in warm and moist climates and is used in many parts of Southeast Asia.
- Alternative names: Vietnamese cilantro (English), hot mint (English), Rau Răm (Vietnamese), ជីរក្រសាំងទំហំ Chi Krasang Tomhom (Cambodian), ລາບ (Lao).
- Taste: Strong peppery taste and kick with mild citrus undertones.
- Culinary Use: Vietnamese coriander is used widely across Southeast Asia. The dish that capitalizes on the peppery flavor is Balut, a fertilized duck egg served simply with salt, pepper and the herb itself. The plant is also made as part of salads like a Laotian Laab Diip (Raw Beef Salad).
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Mint
Mint is a popular herb not only used in Asian cuisine, but in many other parts of the world. They grow best in wet spaces like rivers, lakes and water pools. They can thrive throughout the entire year and need to be harvested often otherwise will continue to grow wildly.
- Alternative names: Mentha (English), Húng Cay (Vietnamese).
- Taste: Sweet and mildly peppery with the effect of cooling the tongue.
- Culinary Use: Mint is a very versatile herb that’s used across many cuisines. It can be blended into a lemonade, served whole in a salad or mixed into a sauce like an Argentinian chimichurri.
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Garlic Chives
Garlic chives prefer to grow in warm-cool temperatures in numerous parts of the world. They have a similar appearance to grass and are generally served cut into long segments, roughly 10cm (4″) long.
- Alternative names: Chinese leek (English), 韭菜 Gau Choy (Cantonese), Hẹ Tỏi (Vietnamese)
- Taste: Similar fragrance to garlic and onion but milder. It is also said to have a grassy texture to some.
- Culinary Use: It’s often used as a condiment to dishes. A recipe that really allows the herb to shine is a Cantonese yum cha dish where it’s cooked with blood jelly.
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Spring onions a.k.a. scallions
This ever-popular garnish is the perfect way to spruce up any meal. You can find them sold in bundles in Asian supermarkets. To serve, they’re usually finely sliced or cut thinly along the length and tossed in an ice bath to curl for an artistic effect.
- Alternative names: 蔥 chong (Cantonese), Hành Lá (Vietnamese)
- Taste: Similar to onion but milder and sweeter.
- Culinary Use: Almost always used as a garnish or as part of stir fries.
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How to prepare Asian herbs for cooking and eating
Whenever Mum and Grandma buy fresh herbs from the supermarket, we always make sure to wash and dry them properly so they’re free from dirt and parasites. Here are the steps to how we prepare them:
1. Separate the leaves from the stems
Use scissors to cut the leaves from the stems into a colander so they can be ready to wash. You want to remove as much of the stem as you can for herbs like Thai basil or perilla. For smaller aromatics, such as coriander, you can simply cut it from the roots to separate each stem.
2. Let the leaves soak.
Fill up your sink or a large bowl with cold water and add 3-4 tsp salt in. Let the herbs sit in the salted water for 10 minutes, then transfer them back into the colander while you drain the sink. Fill the sink back up again with salted water and repeat this soaking another 2-3 times.
By doing so, the parasites crawl out of the herbs and it gives a chance for the dirt to sink to the bottom.
3. Let it drip dry.
Rinse the herbs in clean running water as you transfer it from the sink to a colander to drip dry. Pro Tip: Fan the herbs out across the surface of the colander to reduce the drying time.
Now your herbs are ready to be eaten! For garnishes like spring onions, rice paddy herb or sawtooth coriander, finely chop them and leave them in a serving dish.
After you have enjoy them on your favorite recipes, store everything in a clean airtight container if there are any leftovers. They will keep well in the fridge for 1-2 days.
Aromatics
We can’t make our faovrite Chinese and Vietnamese dishes without the fragrant kick of these aromatics. The classic one that everyone knows and loves would be garlic, but on our household there are a few more that we always have in our pantry.
Ginger
In the Asian community, ginger is known as a superfood because of the many health benefits it is believed to have. You can find old and young versions of this aromatic, where the older ones have a deeper flavor and tougher skin while the younger ones are lighter, sweeter and have a thinner skin.
- Alternative names: 薑 Gurng (Cantonese), Gừng (Vietnamese)
- Taste: Spicy, warm and mildly zesty.
- Culinary Use: To make the most of ginger, it’s usually crushed to bring out its juices, thinly sliced for a heated kick to dishes or charred for noodle soups.
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Lemongrass
Lemongrass is a type of Asian aromatic that comes from parts of Southeast Asia. It grows well in climates of a tropical nature and and such prefers the warmer temperatures. You’ll find them sold in separate stems in buckets of water.
- Alternative names: 香茅 heurng mao (Cantonese), Cộng Sả (Vietnamese).
- Taste: Minty with lemon undertones and a citrus fragrance.
- Culinary Use: Lemongrass is often finely chopped and cooked into dishes for its strong aroma, but is also great infused in teas.
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We love using these Asian aromatics and herbs in our cooking and we hope you do too. Give them a go if you haven’t yet and stay tuned as we continue to update this page with more of our favorites!