Cilantro or coriander whichever you prefer to call is a green plant. This plant is used for cooking purposes. From green salad to any cooked meat, its green leaves are used for garnishing the dishes. This not only brings a refreshing fragrance but also makes the dish look more appealing.
How you use cilantro is your choice. You can chop it off with a knife or strip it with your hands. But when you do the chopping thing thoughtfully, this green leafy makes a huge difference in the dish. Want to learn in detail? Scroll up the article and learn everything about cutting cilantro:
Almost the majority of the dishes are incomplete without cilantro. But having cilantro is not the main thing, it has to be fresh. Because fresh cilantro has that nice aromatic smell to make you drool.
When you go to the market to buy cilantro, look for these things:
Color: Fresh cilantro always has bright green leaves. Any cilantro with gray, yellow, or brown color or even spots generally indicates an older one.
Texture: The texture should be crunchy when squeezed or broken. Avoid getting cilantro whose leaves are dull or wilted.
Smell: Fresh cilantro leaves smell really nice just like a green garden. So, always choose cilantro with a refreshing fragrance.
Packaged date: If you're buying a packaged cilantro, look for the expiry date. Choose the one with the latest packaged date for good quality and freshness.
Before using cilantro in any dishes, a proper wash is a must. This removes any dirt or tiny particles of sand that can be found in the stems and leaves. Look for the given information to clean cilantro after getting it from the grocery store:
The first thing to do is place cilantro in a large bowl. Fill the bowl with cold water. The water level should be enough to submerge the cilantro fully in the water.
After submerging, using your hand move the cilantro into the water. Separate all cilantro individually and swish in the water.
After one wash is done, take out the cilantro from the water and place it in a colander.
Throw the dirty water, clean the bowl, and again fill the bowl with clean water.
Again place the cilantro in the water and drown it for a minute. Then, clean the cilantro by swishing it with your hands.
Repeat this cleaning process until the water turns clear without any dirt or grit.
After washing is done, dry out the cilantro. You can leave it to dry naturally by spreading it in a colander. Or you can use a paper towel to pat the cilantro to remove excess moisture. Pat drying is quicker than naturally drying out.
How To Cut Cilantro (4 Ways)
Knowing the ways to cut off cilantro is very useful if you love playing with dishes. This helps to bring out added flavors to the dishes. Some dishes demand finely chopped cilantro leaves whereas some require a whole leaf.
You don't need to worry about the tools required to do this job. The major tools are a knife and scissors that are easily available in your kitchen. So, let's learn major 4 ways to cut cilantro.
1. Cut Cilantro With A Knife
This is the most common way to chop cilantro leaves. All you need is a knife and a cutting board. Then, you can proceed to cut the leaves. Here's a detailed instructions to cut cilantro leaves with a knife:
Things You'll Need
Fresh cilantro
A sharp knife
Cutting board
A small bowl
Instructions To Follow
1. Prepare the cilantro
Begin this process by cleaning the cilantro. Unpack the cilantro if you bought a packaged one. Then, put it in a large bowl and wash with cold water. This removes any dirt or soil particles from the cilantro.
After cleaning, the cilantro should be dried out before going to the next step. Instead of letting it dry automatically, use a paper towel to pat the cilantro. This absorbs the remaining water moisture.
Once the cilantro is prepared, it is time to separate any dull or dead leaves. This is important because removing dead leaves does not spoil the freshness of the green leaves. Along with the freshness, it also helps to enhance the flavors and taste of the dish.
3. Trim the cilantro
It is time to move towards the trimming of cilantro. Using a knife cut the roots and thick stems. If you like to use the stems along with leaves, don't cut them off. The stems are also full of freshness as that of the leaves.
However, if there's a culture of using cilantro roots in your home or community, you can do so. The roots also have that green fresh smell that you can get when chopped nicely and cooked well. But, using the raw roots to garnish is not recommended.
Finally, it's time to move towards the main task. Place the cilantro on the cutting board and start chopping off using a sharp knife. Once the leaves get all over the cutting board, just wipe it all and gather them in the center of the cutting board. Then, start chopping again until you get the desired fineness
While doing this pay attention to your finger as well. A slight recklessness and you might get a deep cut on your finger. Transfer the chopped cilantro to a bowl and use in several dishes for garnishing.
Cutting cilantro with scissors is fairly modern and super easy at the same time. Using scissors is less likely to give a deep cut to your finger. So it is safe in a sense. Without any delay, let's learn how to use scissors to cut cilantro:
Things You'll Need
Fresh cilantro
A kitchen scissor
A knife
A bowl
Instructions To Follow
1. Prepare the cilantro
Preparing the cilantro simply means cleaning and drying them. Wash the cilantro using cold in a large bowl. This removes any dirt on the stems and leaves.
After cleaning the cilantro, dry it with a paper towel. This helps to absorb the moisture and make the cilantro dry quickly.
2. Trim the cilantro
The second step is to trim the cilantro. Here, pick out any dull leaves and cut the roots with a knife. You can keep the stems and use them with leaves for cooking. Because the stems are also strongly filled with refreshing fragrance.
The only thing you need to keep in mind is cutting stems requires more time usually than leaves. As stems are thick, so ensuring fine cutting is important to avoid their interruption while enjoying the food. But with a kitchen scissor, it's a bit difficult to cut the stems finely.
3. Cut the cilantro
Lastly, cut the cilantro with kitchen scissors. To cut, hold the cilantro with one hand, and use scissors with the other hand. Now, move the scissors to cut off the cilantro leaves along with the stems in a way that the chopped leaves gather in a bowl. This generates the leaves in short shapes which may not be as fine as knife-chopped leaves.
I recommend using a food processor only if you own it. Otherwise, it might be slightly costly for you. The food processor cuts the cilantro very fast. All you just need to do is put cilantro inside it and turn it on. See the given detailed instructions for a better understanding of the process:
Things You'll Need
Fresh cilantro
A food processor
A knife and cutting board
A bowl
Instructions To Follow
First, wash the cilantro with water and dry it out using a paper towel. This allows to clean dirt or grit from the cilantro.
Second, remove any dull or dead leaves from the cilantro. It helps to prevent dead leaves from spoiling the refreshing flavor of the fresh cilantro.
Third, cut the roots of the cilantro. You can use the stems along with leaves.
Fourth, set up the food processor by fitting the processor basket in the machine.
Add cilantro to the food processor basket and run the tool. You can chop the cilantro before adding it to the basket for quick cutting.
Then, press the pusher to force the cilantro down to the processor's blades. Do this until cilantro leaves along with stems are chopped off well.
Lastly, take out the chopped cilantro from the processor and put it in a bowl. Now, you are able to use it in your desired recipes.
A way to chop cilantro is by using your hand. This method is useful only when you don't need finely chopped cilantro leaves. For example, if you need it as a whole leaf to garnish the dish at the last, plucking the cilantro leaves is useful.
This method doesn't require any specific tools. Here is how you can pluck cilantro leaves by hand:
First, you just need to wash the cilantro with water. In case of any dull or dead leaves, pluck them.
Then cut off the roots with a knife or you can use your hand for this as well. Grab the roots with your hands and twist them to separate them from the cilantro.
After removing the roots, pick out the leaves individually using your hands. Place the picked leaf in a bowl and continue to pluck until you get enough leaves.
Now use those leaves as a topping in a curry, noodles, or any other dish. This gives an refreshing smell to the dish.
The question of storing cilantro arises when you have more amount than needed. This green leafy plant can be stored in the fridge. This helps to retain the freshness and quality. As a result, you can use this in the future when you are in need.
Either chopped or whole cilantro, here are two main ways to store it:
In the refrigerator
Initiate by filling a jar with water, leaving some space to breathe for cilantro leaves. Now, place the cilantro stems in the jar in a way the leaves are not submerged in the water. The leaves should be above the water level. Otherwise, the leaves will be too soft.
After submerging the stems only, place the jar in the refrigerator by covering the jar with a plastic bag loosely. What you need to make sure is to keep the cilantro-filled jar in the coolest part of the refrigerator. This helps to maintain the quality for up to 2 weeks.
In the freezer
Did you know your fresh cilantro can be kept in the freezer for up to 6 months? This may sound like magic but it is due to the internal temperature of the freezer. You can chop cilantro or freeze it as it is.
Let's begin the process of freezing by placing cilantro on the baking sheet. You can use a tray instead. Leave the baking sheet in the freezer for 1-2 hours or until the leaves are frozen fully. This process is called flash-freezing.
After flash-freezing cilantro, move towards transferring them to an airtight plastic bag or container. Keep the bag in the freezer. One thing to remember is not to let the temperature above 0˚F (-18˚C). This temperature is ideal to keep the cilantro fresh for a longer time.
Ways To Use Cut or Chopped Cilantro
You have come to this point which means you already learned the ways to cut cilantro. Now is the right time to have the idea of using chopped cilantro. There are some dishes that demand the use of cut cilantro. Here are they:
Have you ever tried making sauce or chutney with cilantro? If not, give it a try. You are going to love this sauce. The refreshing green sauce is a perfect match to use as a dipping sauce for french fries, crackers, or tortillas.
2. Use in salads
A bowl of mixed veg salad is full of nutritional value. This keeps you light and active all day. While making this salad, consider adding some chopped cilantro. This gives an aromatic flavor to the salad and also enhances its nutritional value.
3. Use in soups
Soups come as the first thing on our mind when we want to enjoy a light and fluid dish. This could be a bowl of mushroom soup or chicken soup. Using chopped cilantro to garnish this dish works as a flavor enhancer. Also, fills your home with its greeny nature-like fragrance.
Eating the same taste of rice was boring. What I did was add finely chopped cilantro while cooking the rice. I was amazed by the result. The rice tasted so good with greeny and refreshing flavor of the cilantro. Try making rice with some chopped cilantro to turn boring rice into an interesting one. You'll love this.
FAQs
Can you eat cilantro's stem?
Well, it depends on your choice. But yes cilantro stem can be eaten because it has as intense flavor as that of the cilantro leaves. However, if you only want to use cilantro leaves and discard the stem, do so.
Should I discard the chopped stem in the bin?
I usually don't suggest you discard the stem. Because they are edible and used in dishes like curry, soup, or noodles when chopped finely. Still you don't like it, you can discard it in the bin. The choice is all yours.
How long does chopped cilantro last?
The chopped cilantro lasts for up to 2 weeks in the fridge. But you need to follow a proper storing process for this. While in the freezer, it can last up to 6 months.
