Perilla Leaves (Kkaennip)

Perilla leaves, known as kkaennip in Korean and tia to in Vietnamese, are broad heart-shaped leaves with serrated edges and a striking aroma somewhere between mint, basil and aniseed. The Korean variety is flat and green; the Vietnamese variety is smaller with a purple underside.

In Korea they are a staple of the ssam table, used alongside lettuce to wrap grilled pork belly, rice and a dab of ssamjang. They are also pickled in a soy and garlic marinade to make kkaennip jangajji, a side dish that keeps for weeks in the fridge, and battered and fried as jeon.

In Vietnamese cooking the purple-backed leaves are scattered raw over noodle soups and rice paper rolls, where their perfume cuts through rich broths. They are almost never cooked for long – heat destroys the aroma, so they go in at the last moment or not at all.

Buy them fresh from a Korean or Vietnamese grocer, look for unblemished leaves with firm stems, and store them wrapped in damp paper towel in the fridge for up to a week. Note that perilla leaves and perilla oil, which is pressed from the toasted seeds, are entirely different products and cannot be substituted for one another.