I googled Asian cilantro, got Vietnamese coriander... and the first entry said it is easy to grow indoors. It dies in 32º so, in zone 8...it's an indoor plant for you.

Okay, you need to be more specific about what plant it is. Rau Ram? Ngo Gai? Sawleaf herb? Vietnamese coriander? Any of these names ring a bell? Could you describe it to us? There are dozens of herbs from asia and central america which are used as subsitutes or mistaken for coriander/cilantro. :)

The herb is Polygonum odoratum, aka Vietnamese coriander. It does not taste like cilantro, but it is a nice herb. Put it in a pot & grow it indoors. When it warms up next year, you can put it outside. It will send out runners, so it can be invasive. As the stalks become strong with growth, you can propagate by breaking off the stalks & stick them in the ground. Remove the lower leaves, of course.
Sometimes the plant suffers shock & wilts with transplantation. If it does, you can remove the leaves & it will likely come back.
This is a very common herb found in Asian markets. You can easily propagate this herb from cuttings sold in the market. I can get about 30 cuttings for about 60 cents; at least half of them will take.

Ah, yeah, rau ram. Yeah, not really a cilantro substitute, but it has plenty of uses in east asian cuisine. Time to break out the wok!

Teryaki, are there any special dishes rau ram goes well in? I tried it in soup the other day, & I did not like the taste. Is it a complement to certain spices or ingredients?

I like to know that as well. What about pasta dishes?

Baci, did you try it in Vietnamese soup? with mint? My BF is on a Vietnamese soup rage... I think he also uses thai basil, but it might just be the cilantro... I don't care for the flavor of the plant, but I like the way it flavors the soup...

I've not used it personally, just sampled. I found a couple recipes where it's a main player, though. You might try them.

Laksa Lemak, a shrimp-noodle dish soup from Singapore
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=145238

Canh Dau Hu, tofu soup from Vietnam
http://www.recipehound.com/Recipes/1104.html

Heathen, I tried it in a soup that would probably be called a modified pho. I do not use meat to flavor my stock, so I experiment with throwing in various herbs. The culantro is best for that one  to me the rau ram tasted like dish soap. It was probably the way I prepared it, however  I will have to try it with the mint.
Your boyfriend might want to try the Bun Bo Hue/bun ba que soup if he has not already. I like it because of the annatto oil.
I have tried a Vietnamese tofu soup before although I do not know the name. They made a tofu meatball with green herbs in it that was great & unlike anything I had ever tasted before. It had broccoli, cauliflower, probably shitake & annatto oil in it, & was served with romaine. The restaurant serving it specialized in the Bun Bo Hue soup, so I am guessing they were from a part of Vietnam (Hue) that uses their spices differently.
Sextus, you might also want check out the Asian veggies forum  there are many people on that forum that are familiar with this herb.

yummmmmm I love the Pho! :o) Okay... I will look up the Bun Bo Hue see if we can make that too. :o) Thanks!

HereÂs another cheap & fun tip. The Hispanic markets usually have the best buy on annatto seed, needed for the soup. If you find a large seed & soak it long enough, it will sprout. After it sprouts, plant it & you will have a baby annatto tree. I have no idea what the end result will be, but the spice cost me about $.1.00, so it is worth a try

Okay, Baci, here's a question for you.... I had some Sour Catfish soup last night in a Vietnamese restaurant. There was a vegetable in it that I didn't recognise and they couldn't tell me what it was... It LOOKED like a 2 inch diagonal cutting of celery, but it was really spongy in consistency. They said that it was something like taro... I am thinking another aroid stem cutting? It did NOT look like the root part.... if you could tell me, I am dying to know! :o)

I do not know, Heathen, but I will take a wild guess. Any chance it looked like this plant?

Here is a link that might be useful: Chinese vegetable

No... what I was eating looked like rather large celery cuttings....probably somewhere around 1" accross... they'd made diagonal cuttings about 2" long.

I think I know what you are talking about now. They sell it in Asian grocers. I always wanted to try it but did not know how to cook it. It is like a large aroid stem. There was a thread "Bac Ha" on the Asian vegetables forum  is this what you are talking about?

The picture link is below.

There is a thread on the Asian veggies forum which discusses this:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/asianveg/msg030338448600.html

If this is what you are talking about how did it taste?

Here is a link that might be useful: bac ha