Cilantro-Mint Sauce Recipe

Cilantro-mint sauce is an aromatic sauce made from ginger, cumin, garlic, jalapenos, onion, and of course, cilantro and mint. Just toss the ingredients into a food processor or blender, and you’ll have a tasty sauce ready-to-go throughout the week.

How to Make Cilantro-Mint Sauce

Called “new Indian Pesto” by Deepa Thomas from her incredible cookbook, Deepa’s Secrets: Slow Carb New Indian Cuisine, this recipe is as easy as chucking ingredients together in a blender and pressing “on”. Toasting the cumin seeds beforehand creates a nuttier flavor, but this sauce can be customized in many ways. If you like a smooth sauce, leave the blender running for up to one minute. If you prefer a chunkier sauce, leave the blender running for only a few seconds. This recipe uses the cilantro stems as well as the cilantro leaves, as they are absolutely full of flavor. A touch of honey balances out the sauce, rather than making it sweet, but feel free to leave this out if desired.

Serving Suggestions

Drizzle this vibrant sauce over salmon patties for an irresistable combination. Stir it into cooked black beans, spicy lentil stew with butternut squash, or into this Brazilian-style fish stew. Make it a salad dressing by combining with a small amount of neutral tasting oil (such as avocado oil) to serve over mixed green salads.

Cilantro-Mint Sauce Recipe

Adapted from Deepa's Secrets cookbook by Deepa Thomas. Because this sauce does have a nice kick, I usually serve it separately so people can add it as they wish.

Makes 3/4 cup sauce.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: cilantro-mint sauce

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 98kcal

Author: Aliye Aydin

Ingredients

• 1 cup mint leaves (from one small bunch mint)
• 1 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems (from one small bunch cilantro)
• 1 jalapeño
• 1/4 onion
• 1 small knob ginger
• 1 small clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 Tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 cup water

Instructions

• Roughly chop mint leaves, cilantro leaves and stems, jalapeno (leave the veins and seeds if you want more spice), and onion.  Grate one tablespoon ginger. Peel garlic clove. Toast cumin seeds by placing them in a dry saute pan over medium heat until fragrant, about 3-5 minutes.
• Combine above ingredients with lemon juice, honey, salt, and water in a high powered blender. Process on high until a smooth sauce is formed. 
• Store in a glass jar. Cilantro-Mint Sauce can be kept in the fridge for up to one week.

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