Fresh curry leaves: how to use them, store them and find them in Poland

Curry leaves (kadi patta in Hindi, liście curry in Polish) are the leaves of the curry tree, Murraya koenigii. They have nothing to do with curry powder. They have a strong citrus and herbal smell and are a base of South Indian and Sri Lankan cooking: they go into tadka, sambar, coconut chutney and upma.

Finding curry leaves in a Polish shop

Ordinary Polish supermarkets rarely sell fresh curry leaves. Look in Indian and Asian grocery shops, where they come as a small bunch of sprigs, often labelled liście curry świeże (fresh curry leaves). Dried leaves are sold in packets as liście curry suszone. Do not confuse either with przyprawa curry, which is curry powder.

What curry leaves are

The curry tree grows in India and Sri Lanka. Its leaves are small, glossy and dark green, and grow in pairs along thin stems. Rubbed between your fingers they smell strong, a little like lemon peel, a little like anise and herbs.

The name is misleading. Curry powder is a blend of spices (turmeric, coriander, cumin, chilli and others). Curry leaves are not its main ingredient and do not taste like it. Do not confuse them with the garden plant Helichrysum italicum, also called curry plant in English. That is a completely different plant.

Across India the leaves have different names: kadi patta or kari patta in Hindi, kariveppilai in Tamil, karivepaku in Telugu.

How to use curry leaves

Most often curry leaves are fried briefly in hot fat. This is the tadka (tempering, thalippu in Tamil):

1. Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, other oil or ghee.
2. Add half a teaspoon of black mustard seeds and wait until they start to pop.
3. Add 10 to 15 curry leaves and, if you like, a dried chilli. Take care: damp leaves spit hard. Turn the heat down and keep your distance.
4. After a few seconds, when the leaves turn crisp and translucent at the edges, pour the spiced fat over dal, sambar, raita or chutney.

Curry leaves also go into:

• upma and poha: fried at the start with mustard seeds and onion;
• rasam and sambar: soups based on lentils and tamarind;
• Kerala fish and prawn curries: with coconut milk;
• coconut chutney: served with dosa and idli;
• fried potatoes and vegetables: for example cabbage or beans with coconut.

The leaves usually stay in the dish. They are edible but tough, so many people push them to the side of the plate.

How to store fresh curry leaves

• Fridge: do not wash the leaves before storing. Wrap the sprigs in a dry paper towel and put them in a container or a zip bag. They keep in the fridge for about 1 to 2 weeks. Wash them just before use.
• Freezer: strip the leaves from the stems, dry them and freeze them in a sealed bag. Drop frozen leaves straight into the fat without thawing. They lose their crispness but keep much of their aroma.
• Drying: you can dry the leaves at room temperature or in an oven at a very low temperature. Dried leaves smell much weaker than fresh ones.

Substitutes for curry leaves

There is no good substitute. The closest is dried curry leaves: use more of them than fresh and heat them in fat. Some cooks add a little lime zest or a kaffir lime leaf, but that gives a different taste. Bay leaf is not a substitute. If you have no curry leaves, it is better to leave them out of the recipe than to look for a replacement.

Where to buy fresh curry leaves

Little India sells fresh curry leaves by the bunch and dried curry leaves. For the tadka you will also want black mustard seeds. Fresh herbs are in the fresh vegetables category. Little India has shops in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk and ships orders from the online shop.