Ingredients for coriander pesto

Hunting for some inspiration for dinner, I perused through my cookbook collection and decided upon a variation of a variation. This coriander pesto recipe is one I’ve adapted from Ming Tsai’s cookbook Simply Ming. The original recipe contains a few more ingredients and features basil and mint as the primary herbs while this version uses coriander for its principal flavour.

Information

Prep time: 15 – 25 minutes
Yield: 3 cups

What’s in it

  • 2 bunches of coriander, roughly chopped
  • 1 bunch of mint, just the leaves
  • 6 cloves of garlic, split and roughly chopped
  • 2 green chillis, de-stemmed, de-seeded and roughly chopped
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

How I made it

In a blender or food processor, whizz up the garlic; chilli; lemon zest; lemon juice and half of the olive oil until smooth. Then, add the mint and coriander, blend whilst adding the remaining olive oil a little at a time until a thick green puree forms. Transfer into a bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.

The quantities above would yield about 3 cups of pesto.

The finished product

Not the prettiest of ingredients, but certainly one that is very tasty and versatile. Ming’s book indicates that the pesto will keep in the fridge, tightly covered, for up to 2 weeks and will turn darker over time. In addition to stirring through pasta, the pesto also works well as a pizza sauce or as a marinade for chicken, fish or prawns.