I have some rau ram - Vietnamese coriander - growing from rooting some cuttings I made from a bunch I got at the asian market. Has anyone grown this, or cooked with it? I have used it in some northern Thai dishes, in place of coriander or holy basil, and it was very good. I have not had luck growing coriander outside, or thai coriander, or culantro, so I figured I'd try another similar herb.

Dave

That sounds so interesting, I love to learn about new herbs. how would you compare its flavor to cilantro, which I have difficulty describing, both bright and musky and pungent maybe? last year my husband and I had some nim chow (sp?) which was especially made for us and loaded with shrimp. There was an unpleasant spade shaped leaf herb in it that tasted like (really!) sewage. it was very sad. i tried to eat it and even dismantled it to find out what it was. we never asked the cook, and tried to describe it to our taiwanese brother in law but he could'nt really help cross country. any ideas?

I can't imagine what that herb could have been! Maybe something that had just rotted? Or it was the dried shrimp, or fish sauce? Some of the bad versions of those taste like sewage.

This rau rom has a flavor very hard to describe - sort of like cilantro with citrus overtones, but really impossible to describe. I really wasn't sure of what I had - they have a bunch of herbs at my Asian markets, but none are marked in english! I found a picture of it when I googled rau rom photo, so I was right, and so I rooted it. It looks sort of like a skinny bay leaf, but not firm, and I assume just the leaf is used, but I'll have to find out. It supposedly grows like a vine, and very vigorous, and since the temp has been in the 90's this week, it may feel right at home!

Dave