Recipe
Gotukola sambol — Sri Lankan pennywort salad
- Herb:
- Gotu kola Centella asiatica
- Method:
- Culinary use
- Plant part:
- Leaf
About 15 minBeginnerRecipe science profile
Procedure
- Rinse two handfuls of fresh pennywort leaves with stalks several times and slice into thin ribbons.
- Add half a grated coconut (or 3 tablespoons of desiccated coconut, briefly soaked), 1 finely chopped shallot and half a chilli.
- Squeeze over the juice of half a lime, salt, and mix by hand so the coconut soaks up the juice.
- Serve at once with rice or as a side dish.
Extraction
- Herb:
- 2 handfuls of fresh leaves (about 60 g) for 2 portions
- Solvent:
- raw, with only lime juice and coconut; no cooking
- Shelf life:
- eat immediately
- Target compounds:
- the whole plant is eaten — triterpenes (asiaticoside) and fibre remain in the leaf
Notes
An everyday Sri Lankan dish. Wash wild-picked leaves thoroughly (it grows by water). Internal medicinal use of concentrated preparations has isolated reports of liver injury — as a salad in ordinary amounts this is food, not treatment.
Why it works
Raw leaf keeps the triterpenes (asiaticoside, madecassoside) and vitamins that cooking partly destroys. The traditional reputation as a 'memory herb' in Ayurveda lacks adequate clinical support in humans; the EMA monograph recognises external skin use only.
Literature
- EMA HMPC — Centellae asiaticae herba, European Union herbal monograph (revision 1, 2022) — The monograph covers external use for minor skin complaints and healing of minor wounds; culinary use is outside its scope.
- Gohil KJ, Patel JA, Gajjar AK (2010): Pharmacological review on Centella asiatica. Indian J Pharm Sci 72(5):546–556 — Review of traditional use and triterpene pharmacology.
Related
Gotu kola — Herb card
Culinary use — Processing method detail