Whenever I visit the vegetables section at the supermarket, I could always smell a refreshing citrus fragrance that was most appetising. The fragrance reminded me of some Thai dishes that I've eaten before. I found out that the fragrance came from a bunch of leaves that looked pretty unique with the double leaves. They're labelled as 'pomelo leaves'. I decided to look for recipes that require the use of the leaves.
Looking through the recipes I have, none required pomelo leaves. When I did a search on the net for the use of pomelo leaves, I found something that said that water mixed with pomelo leaves is used for driving evil spirits... Hmm... I was actually looking for a recipe!
Eventually, from the pictures I found online, I found out that these leaves are actually Kaffir Lime Leaves that are commonly used in Thai cooking. I found out the following about the kaffir lime leaves:
- they are used for their flavour
- they need to be finely chopped if they are to be eaten
- they can be kept frozen in the fridge
- if unavailable, they can be replaced with leaves from young orange, lemon or usual lime plants
I've tried adding Kaffir Lime leaves to my cooking thrice so far, once for a stir-fry chicken & twice for a Thai Style Fried fish. I love the flavour that it adds to the dish. Think I'm going to try making some Thai fishcakes soon :)
