Anyone use leaves from chili plants?

[Pasht_lah]

I was born in Manila, but grew up in the US so became used to both names used for this veggie. It's only called "chili leaves" or "pepper leaves" if you're speaking English. If you want to try filipino dishes with these leaves, natively, they're called "sili"leaves. The full name is "dahon ng sili", and it's a VERY common veggie in filipino cooking. Here's a picture: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KC0IeKPFNMo/R3ZP5ylmFmI/AAAAAAAAAuY/JgvBuwI4fQg/s400/P1010339a.jpg
(always strip the leaves from the stem when using. Do not eat the stems)

They are only mildly spicy, nothing like the chili pepper itself. You can substitute spinach in you don't have sili leaves. If overcooked, they can turn bitter however and because of this they don't reheat well.

You probably will have the same problem in Japan. You just need to find someone that is used to the US translation of plant.

In the US, I have seen them called "chili leaves" but always look for "sili", as that is the name in tagalog(pronounced tah-GAH-lug).

They are found fresh and frozen. If frozen they are packed in water then frozen, so when you find them, they're blocks.
Here is a picture. The sili leaves are the 6th ones down the page. http://www.orientalsuper-mart.com/ourstore/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=264&page=1&sort=3a

They are used in:

-Blue Crabs and/or Shrimp with chili/sili leaves
-Chicken tinola aka, Tinolang Manok (chicken ginger stew)
-Swam (fish head soup with patis and chili leaves)
-Ginataang Saba (coconut milk and plantains with chili leaves)
-Guinisang Munggo with Talbos ng Sili (mung beans with pork, shrimp, ginger and chili leaf tendrils) The tendrils sometimes even have baby peppers along with the leaves.
-Sinigang na pusit with sili (sour squid soup with chili leaves)

Ginitanng Saba: http://asiarecipe.com/phiveg.html#gin

Swam: http://pinoycook.net/fish-head-soup/

http://overseaspinoycooking.blogspot.com/2009/07/guinisang-munggo-with-talbos-ng-sili.html

http://readingeagle.com/recipedetail.aspx?id=1369

"Pinatisang manok" - http://pinoycook.net/pinatisang-manok-2-chicken-soup-with-fish-sauce/

Tinolang Manok / Chicken Soup with Green Papaya and Chilli Leaves - http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/tinolang-manok-chicken-soup-with-green-papaya-and-chilli-leaves

VERY IMPORTANT: this veggie is added to dishes only after the dish is cooked. Boiling/over cooking sili leaves brings out their bitterness. So often they are cooked in residual heat. You can turn off the heat on your dish and put in the leaves, then cover it for a few minutes before serving. That's it. You only need to wilt them.

Also, try to make only enough to eat for that meal because reheating sili leaves makes the broth begin to turn bitter as well. I have reheated them and don't mind a slight bitterness, but it's all to personal tastes. Most of it gets eaten up the first time anyways.

Someone I think asked what sort of peppers they were, hope this answers the question:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siling_labuyo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siling_mahaba
http://www.stuartxchange.org/Sili.html

There are many many other ways of using sili leaves! I wish someone here knew how to use them in Japan because I would be interested in trying them.

Enjoy!
-Barb

[mickeydownunder]

WOW and big big thanks LOVE the links

The info was VERY VERY interesting and learnt something new today

WHOO HOO!

Really enjoyed reading

[Stella Mae]

I've traveled extensively in Asia and lived in Japan for 22 years and in China almost 3 -- I never heard of using leaves from chile plants. The Japanese do not care much for hot, spicy dishes and refer to people as not tolerating such food as having "cat's tongue". I have cat's tongue as well!

But what interested me very much the last time I was in China was that the leaves from just about every vegetable are eaten, and there is nothing more delicious than stir-fried garlic leaves with a pinch of salt.

[mickeydownunder]

Gday! Just to clarify was it the actual leaves of the chili plants or was it the cili leaves as posted above

thanks

still on my first cuppa

WHOO HOO!

[Molly53]

mickeydownunder wrote:
Gday! Just to clarify was it the actual leaves of the chili plants or was it the cili leaves as posted above

thanks

still on my first cuppa

WHOO HOO!

In one of the links provided above, the latin name was capsicum annuum, Mickey.

[mickeydownunder]

so is the actual leaf then

thanks

always love learning something new and photos are perfect for me to understanding things better too

WHOO HOO!

HOpe u have a great day!

[HotPepperIV]

I haven't personally used them, however in Thai cusine they often search out the leaves of many plants for the dishes. The Thai, seem to like all the flavor sences at one time, salty, sweet, bitter,spicy...etc. In Homestead Fla. my friend from Ubon Thailand continued the tradition of gathering leaves for her restraunt, not all the neighbors appriciated her gathering of wild leaves and herbs.
Having that experience I would imagine I have had spicy leaves unknowingly.
In this country before trying any wild addition to the meal I would contact the dept. of agriculture to check for poison and alergy precautions.
Have a wounderfull weekend...Namaste...Chef Jim

[mickeydownunder]

Gday and thanks for the follow up and yes am sure (worldwide) over the years we all have had something that we didnt know we had, but ate and survived

Hope you have a great day!

WHOO HOO!

[blue_raven80]

"I hadn't realised that chili leaves are used quite a bit in Asian cooking -- especially in South-East Asia. I have a book called Cooking with Asian leaves and they aren't even mentioned there. Anyone have experience cooking with them?"

yes.here in our country it is used in Tinola. a chicken soup best with rice. i'll post the recipe sometime.

[Torazon]

Respectfully I must disagree about the leaves not being used in Japanese Cuisine. My mother in law is a professional cook in Japan and the leaves of chili plants are certainly used in Japanese cooking and are called Ha-Togarashi.
(葉唐辛子)

Happy Fooding!

Torazon

[Rinshinomori]

Thanks for pointing this out Torazon and welcome to our community I never had some that I know of but I did find many online recipes using it. How does your inlaw use it? I would love to try this now mmmmm. I wonder if this is a new use in Japan.

Here is one recipe using both the peppers and the leaves:

[lyjan.graham]

Yes, I do. In fact, I just cooked it http://olahmomma.com/blog/chili-leaves-soup-chicken-recipe

[Jade #3]

[quote="Chef #1045334"]This is odd. Chilies and peppers (all capsicum) are in the nightshade family and the leaves of most of these plants are toxic. I would stay away from chili leaves.

George (author of What Recipes Don't Tell You)[/quote]
That is what I was thinking when I read the title of the thread. From what I have been taught in my horticultural background all plants in the nightshade family are poisenous...this includes peppers, potatoes and tomatoes. So this is an interesting one for me to read about.

[StephenMonChef]

Surely vegetables are simply those parts of plant which we eat as such!! So the fruit of the chilli like the fruit of the tomato plant or the aubergine plant or the cucumber plant or the squash plant because they contain seeds are the fruit of the plant, however, because we consume them they are all vegetables (as are tubers, roots, leaves, flowers and all the other plant parts which we eat)

[Celticevergreen]

StephenMonChef wrote:
Surely vegetables are simply those parts of plant which we eat as such!! So the fruit of the chilli like the fruit of the tomato plant or the aubergine plant or the cucumber plant or the squash plant because they contain seeds are the fruit of the plant, however, because we consume them they are all vegetables (as are tubers, roots, leaves, flowers and all the other plant parts which we eat)

In the culinary sense, a fruit is usually any sweet-tasting plant product, especially those associated with seeds; a vegetable is any savoury or less sweet plant product (plant cultivated for food, edible herb or root).

These culinary vegetables that are botanically fruit include cucurbits (e.g., squash, pumpkin, and cucumber), tomatoes, peas, beans, corn, eggplant, and sweet pepper. In addition, some spices, such as allspice and chilies, are fruits, botanically speaking. In contrast, rhubarb is often referred to as a fruit, because it is used to make sweet desserts such as pies, though only the stalk of the rhubarb plant is edible.

It also depends on where you live. For example, in Brazil the avocado is traditionally consumed with sugar as a dessert or in milkshakes, and hence it is regarded as a culinary fruit; whereas in other countries (including Mexico and the United States) it is used in salads and dips, and hence considered to be a vegetable.