How to measure 4tbsp of coriander

Question

I am following a recipe that mentions 4tbsp of coriander leaves and 5tbsp for Mint. How can one measure leaves in the weight of tbsp?

Answer 1

It’s possible that the recipe is intending for you to use dried herbs, which are easier to measure by volume than fresh herbs. If so, it’s an important distinction to make because dried herbs will be much more potent than fresh.

It’s also possible, and maybe more likely, that the recipe is calling for a volume measurement of chopped or minced herbs. Usually that would read something like:

X Tbsp. mint, minced

The real answer is that we can’t really know. The best way to resolve this ambiguity is to find a recipe that is more specific. Generally when cooking from a recipe, I survey 3 or 4 versions of the recipe to try to get a feel for what they have in common. It can give you an idea of what amount seems normal. Then go from there.

Ingredients like herbs are essentially just added “to taste” in most applications anyway. It’s unlikely to make or break your dish if you estimate and use your intuition. It can be easy to add too much dried herbs, though, so id suggest starting small if that’s the case.

Answer 2

Tablespoons are a volume measurement, rather than a weight. However, it's pretty easy to convert. You can get into the ballpark, and perhaps even closer than that by using a website like this to make the conversion. In a savory application, the degree of accuracy is probably close enough. I would use a scale if possible. So, in this case, a Tablespoon is about 1 gram of leaves. There are other ingredient conversion websites. This just happens to be the one I found quickly.