Green vegetables are beautiful to look at and they add a pop of color to your dish while providing health benefits too. Below is a guide to cutting and storing these greens in order to maintain their freshness.
The flavors of fresh herbs into your mouth would take you to your grandma’s kitchen garden, where you handpicked fresh coriander and mint leaves for the Kofta curry, Chutney or family’s favorite Koyla Dum Qeema.
Given this flash back you are in either of the two situations:
Worry not! Here is a complete guide on how to mince herb and cut loose leaves.
Chiffonade is a cutting technique in which the herbs are cut into thin long strips. The only thing to be careful about when doing a chiffonade cut is not to hurt your fingers as the technique involves very thin slicing. You can start with stacking the leaves on top of each other and rolling them into a cigar shape to hold the bundle in place. Now make a claw with your hand and gold the bundle tightly. By keeping the knife straight to the leaves, slice the bundle into thin ribbons.
loose leaves of lettus cut into thin ribbons
As we are on the topic of discussing how to cut herbs, here are some important tips on buying and storing them.
Buying herbs is like buying flowers for your garden. One must make sure to pick the most fragrant with the most green and fresh leaves.
If you want to know whether the herbs you are buying are fresh; then hold the bunch in your hand and watch. If the leaves are falling in the downwards position, it means that the bunch is not fresh. You must keep looking for the fresher ones.
There is a difference between fresh leaves, not so fresh leaves and dying leaves. Herbs that are fresh can last up to weeks, if reserved appropriately. Following are the tips on how you can manage to save your fresh herbs from getting black or dying.
Wash/clean: After buying herbs, wash them gently under tap water to remove all the impurities. Pat them with a paper towel until completely dried and the excess moisture is soaked.
Storing leafy herbs: Arrange each stem length wise on a damp paper towel or a dry paper. Roll it gently and store it in the fridge. Change the paper or paper towel in case of any moisture
Storing mint: Snip off each leaf from the stem, add the leaves in an air tight container or jar. Keep it in the refrigerator after each time you use.
Now that you know the way of cutting and storing techniques of herbs and loose leaves of lettuce, the only kitchen tool you are missing out is a sharp knife.
So, get in practice and become a Master of Culinary Art at home!
