Coriander

Coriander the flat, slightly bitter taste of the leaves can become addictive, but start off with tiny quantities. Easiest to find in oriental supermarkets, where it may be labelled ‘Chinese parsley’. As there is no substitute for it, buy a large bunch when you find it and freeze any left over chop it finely in a food processor with a little water and freeze the resulting mixture in an ice-cube tray – this gives more or less a 15 ml spoon (1 tablespoon) for each cube. It can be grown from coriander seeds, which, by contrast, add an orange-tasting sweetness to dishes.