One of the defining elements of Vietnamese cuisine is the abundance of fresh herbs and leaves that appear at every meal. I love this Vietnamese herb salad because it features some unusual herbs that may necessitate a trip to a suburb with a large southeast Asian population to source. This is a great excuse for a vicarious holiday, but if that’s not possible substitute any Asian herbs you can get hold of such as mint, Vietnamese mint, coriander and perilla (shiso). Rice paddy herb – called rau om, ba om, and ngo om in different parts of Vietnam – has small succulent leaves and grows around bodies of still water such as rice paddies. It’s known as ma om in Cambodian, pak kayang in Thai and shiso-kusa in Japanese. Saw leaf coriander, also called Mexican coriander and culantro, is a native of Central and South America, which explains its Thai name, pak chii farang (foreigners’ coriander). It’s also known as long coriander, sawtooth herb and ngò gai in Vietnamese. I serve this Vietnamese herb salad with llemon-cured tuna or beef tossed through it, but you could also drizzle it with a little nuoc mam cham and serve it alongside any other Vietnamese dishes.
Serves 2
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