Cilantro

[Aliantha]

Fresh corriander is alway available over here. I have it growing in my herb garden even, but I've never seen it referred to as cilantro, but I've heard chefs and cooks refer to it on cooking shows and yesterday they gave a close up view of it and I realizes it was corriander. So now I don't have to live my life wondering what in the hell cilantro is and why the rest of the world is so special and no one in Australia has it.

[Sundae]

If a recipe called for spring onions, I wouldn't substitute shallots or vice versa. I'm not a food nazi - just that shallots are far milder and I've only ever had them cooked. Spring onions are quite feisty and often eaten raw, or flash fried to retain their crunch.

Just to clarify - a spring onion or scallion has a tiny bulb, barely wider than the shoot. It had an intense almost spicy flavour, but is still acceptable enough to the palate to dip and eat on its own.

Ooh, found pics so we can be sure we mean the same thing
BTW there is a type of onion which looks like a spring onion on steroids - can't for the life of me remember what it's called. It's imported and personally I steer clear.

[Aliantha]

The ones on the left look like shallots to me but because the bottom is a bit wider, some people would refer to them as spring onions.

The ones on the right look like small onions, but they wouldn't be refered to as spring onions. Probably more likely to be called pickling onions over here.

[Cloud]

I knew it.

Can't stand it whatever it's called. Tastes like old socks.

[Sundae]

The ones on the left are spring onions, green onions or scallions.
The ones on the right are shallots - milder and oval in shape, often used in pickling.

[Aliantha]

Well there you go Sundae. Our two definitions are not even close. Totally the opposite in fact it would seem.

I know now though.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

True. Salsa without cilantro ain't much salsa. I've met others who say cilantro tastes like soap to them, and I can see where these people are coming from -- there is something soapy about cilantro's flavor but it doesn't go far enough in that direction to read to me as soap. But it hits some other people that way.

[Cicero]

You guys are nuts! You don't substitue any of those ingredients, you use them all! Especially cilantro!!!!! Who in the heck thinks they make good salsa without it? Or pico de gallo or heck, even tacos? There is no replacement!!!

I just love that cilantro! Mmmmm.....I just made myself hungry for my tacos.

[Cloud]

BTW there is a type of onion which looks like a spring onion on steroids - can't for the life of me remember what it's called. It's imported and personally I steer clear.

you can't be referring to leeks, ??? although they fit the description

[Aliantha]

leeks are yumm. specially in potato soup! or in a chicken pie.

[Pie]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

I am trying to think of what some people call bell peppers, it sounds like another fruit or veggie, but I can't come up with it, even through google.

In India, we usually call them capsicums. (That is the latin name, so it's not too crazy.)
As for the cilantro=soap thing, I've heard that it's a genetic variant present in 15-20% of people...

Ya mutants.

[Cloud]

a mutation to dislike cilantro?

[Aliantha]

We have capsicum over here too. Bell peppers are something else entirely

[Cloud]

that above, we call a red bell pepper. Same as the green ones, only riper. y ummy!

[Aliantha]

Yeah...I love them in stirfry or salad. Even by themself makes a nice snack.

What we call bell peppers over here are smaller and very hot. They kind of look like a small squashed up capsicum. I'll see if I can find a pic.


eta:

This is what we call a bell pepper in my part of the world. As you can see they look very much like a small capsicum.