My Mint

Daun Kesum



"Why buy what you can plant?", I always ask myself.  This is true for all the herbs that we generally use in our daily cooking; because it doesn't really make sense to buy twenty to thirty stalks of a particular herb when all you want to use is just a few leaves.  And, for heaven sake, don't ask to buy only a few leaves of that herb from the vegetable seller for he may just laugh at your face!

So, I always find it useful to plant a bit of everything in my tiny patch, especially herbs that I often use.  Of course, you would have to buy some of the herbs in order to propagate them or better still, ask some from friends.

One of the herbs I have in my patch is the Vietnamese Mint or affectionately called 'Daun Kesum' locally.  It is widely used in local delicacies like 'Asam Laksa', 'Kerabu', 'Asam Pedas' and 'Laksam'.  And in every one of the dishes, one would only require a few leaves of the herb or at the most a stalk or two. 

So, it's worth using your two cents to save a few dollars!