To cook a dish to perfection is to master the secrets of mixing and matching herbs behind the kitchen walls.
For example, a number of green, bulbous herbs go into the making of the base of laksa noodle soup. On the other hand, herbs are minced or sliced before being added to pasta and sauce for a pasta dish.
Curried Laksa Noodle Soup
For example, laksa soup uses lots of fresh herbs to make a delicious dish that leaves you craving more.
There are, for example, at least 8 herbs you need to get before you can create the quintessential sweet and tangy flavor of coconut milk in curry laksa soup; These are kaffir lime leaves, shallots, garlic, lemongrass bulb, mint leaves, and ginger; as well as laksa leaves to decorate.
Tamarind Laksa Noodle Soup
Also, you might be put off by an equally long list of herbs for tamarind laksa soup: polygonum leaves, ginger buds, shallots, lemongrass, fresh galangal ginger; with red onions and mint leaves to decorate.
Considering the amount of work involved with all that rinsing, slicing and mincing of all the herbs, no laksa stall operator in their right mind will offer both versions. A difficult task to accomplish, indeed.
Besides, I know a chef with a natural taste for herbs; He carries all the recipes in his head without missing a single ingredient!
His forte lies in an intuitive understanding of culinary herb blends, an impeccable sense of combining various herbs that work well together, and all herbs together synergistically. Well, she certainly knows how to pack a lot of oomph to make a spectacular dish.
pasta dishes
As for the ‘Pesto Fresh Herb Pasta’ recipe from ‘Good Food’ magazine, it calls for at least 5 herbs like flat-leaf parsley, sage leaves, chives, basil, and tarragon to wake up your green taste buds.
Similarly, for a Martha Stewart ‘Spring Herb Pasta’ recipe, you will need 5 herbs: parsley, chervil, tarragon, dill, and basil.
Another recipe from Delia’s vegetarian collection, ‘Lemon Pasta with Herbs and Ground Pepper’, uses 4 herbs: basil, mint, spring onions and garlic.
However, a Lindsay Ostrom recipe, ‘Garlic Herb Butter Spaghetti,’ has only 2 herbs: garlic and basil.
Therefore, to prepare all of these pasta dishes, you will need all of the green herbs or a mix of bulbous and green herbs. Only one strong-flavored herb, sage or basil, is included, while the remaining herbs have a medium or delicate flavor.
As in the case of laksa noodle soup, the dominant strong-flavored herb root is ginger, while the rest is a mixture of mild and medium-flavored herbs.
The point is that you have to strike a balance between the different flavors of the herbs, because in this case, it’s all about the flavor!
