Curry leaves
- Lime_Pickle
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 12802
- Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2005 5:26 pm
Curry leaves
I can get these dried but, even better, I can now get them fresh. Except they don't keep well, at all (e.g. in the fridge, or treating them like cut flowers) and I can only buy them - they come as a small branch/twig with the leaves attached - in quantities too large to use immediatley.
Has anyone had any luck with freezing them? Do they still keep their fragrance?
Or with growing the tree in a temperate climate?
Has anyone had any luck with freezing them? Do they still keep their fragrance?
Or with growing the tree in a temperate climate?
Wibble.
-
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 17400
- Joined: Sun May 15, 2005 9:48 pm
Re: Curry leaves
I freeze them in zip-loc freezer bags. I remove them from the twig before freezing (because the guy in the shop told me to) and cook them from frozen. They keep for about three months, then they lose flavour. I've never tried to grow the plant.
I like big quotes and I cannot lie
- Lime_Pickle
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 12802
- Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2005 5:26 pm
Re: Curry leaves
I've just bought a baby Murraya koenigii. It's 24" high. I shall keep it in a biggish pot and put it in the greenhouse (or maybe bring it indoors) in winter.
Wibble.
- korgy
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 24957
- Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:55 am
- ceylon_tea
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 2718
- Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:15 pm
Re: Curry leaves
I have a huge bag of frozen curry leaves in the freezer. It freezes well for 2 - 3 months
- Lime_Pickle
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 12802
- Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2005 5:26 pm
- Scrubb
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 24990
- Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2012 3:08 am
- Lime_Pickle
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 12802
- Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2005 5:26 pm
Re: Curry leaves
At long as you bring it in before the first frosts and put it in an unheated but sunny room you can overwinter them. It will look dead but then suddenly start putting leaves out in about May.
Wibble.
- rezuar
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 13784
- Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2013 1:26 pm
Re: Curry leaves
I totally need a greenhouse.
Keep an open mind but not so open your brain falls out.
-
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 13496
- Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:27 pm
Re: Curry leaves
A unheated sunny room is hard to find.
If it's sunny, you want to sit in it and then turn on a little heat.
If it's sunny, you want to sit in it and then turn on a little heat.
- ceylon_tea
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 2718
- Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:15 pm
Re: Curry leaves
Nice lime. We tried to grow it but clover mites destroyed it.
- gnd
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 15478
- Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2013 4:19 am
Re: Curry leaves
nice!
I can only (sporadically available) buy fresh branches, leaves on; then yes freeze.
Taking advantage of what is not working to make changes in your life often leads to your greatest opportunities and accomplishments --GND
- Boinkity_Boink
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 8497
- Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2013 2:38 am
Re: Curry leaves
We have a plant growing in a pot the previous tenants left. In spite of my best efforts to ignore it to death, it continues to hang in there. But we don't live in a temperate climate.
We buy bunches of the curry leaves. Like your bunches, way more than we could ever use before they go bad. I put a branch with maybe 15 leaves in a single 4 quart cooking-size of curry. Or 5-6 in a lentil dish that uses 1-2 cups of dried lentils.
Our leaves keep quite a while. At least two weeks in the fridge. But here they're so cheap it doesn't really matter.
We buy bunches of the curry leaves. Like your bunches, way more than we could ever use before they go bad. I put a branch with maybe 15 leaves in a single 4 quart cooking-size of curry. Or 5-6 in a lentil dish that uses 1-2 cups of dried lentils.
Our leaves keep quite a while. At least two weeks in the fridge. But here they're so cheap it doesn't really matter.
- Boinkity_Boink
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 8497
- Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2013 2:38 am
Re: Curry leaves
BTW, that cucumber at the bottom of the picture might have that wilting disease that so frequently gets cukes and squashes.
- Lime_Pickle
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 12802
- Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2005 5:26 pm
-
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 3680
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:53 am
Re: Curry leaves
On a trip to the nursery a couple of years ago I was astounded to learn that curry is from a bush. Idiot did not buy it immediately. As I recall it was because it was extremely curry smelling. I have never seen one since. Idiot. Idiot.
-
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 13496
- Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:27 pm
Re: Curry leaves
You can order one on amazon that's about two thirds as big as Limepickle's for $45. I've taken 2 big branches off of it in 2 months.
Also, considered powdered curry leaf. Add it just before serving since it's a very subtle flavor. I mostly use my fresh curry leaf for garnish.
Powdered kafir lime leaf is good too. It's what's in those pricey thai curry packets. Powdered galangal sadly doesn't translate. I substitute numeric.
Also, considered powdered curry leaf. Add it just before serving since it's a very subtle flavor. I mostly use my fresh curry leaf for garnish.
Powdered kafir lime leaf is good too. It's what's in those pricey thai curry packets. Powdered galangal sadly doesn't translate. I substitute numeric.
-
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 3680
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:53 am
Re: Curry leaves
And how am I supposed to get a live curry plant into a foreign country?? I bet I'd have to fill out 10 forms in triplicate and mortgage my soul. Also, as I recall, the plant I saw on sale had small brushy leaves and not at all like Lime Pickles, which looks to me like a wisteria sapling (much better scent). However, I am still an idiot.
I'm going to look into that kafir lime leaf. The whole kafir lime leaf and limes in general issue around here is inexplicable and unacceptable. I should start a lime-related import business.
Tumeric substitutes for galangal? Wut?
I'm going to look into that kafir lime leaf. The whole kafir lime leaf and limes in general issue around here is inexplicable and unacceptable. I should start a lime-related import business.
Tumeric substitutes for galangal? Wut?
- VinnyD
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 67183
- Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 3:35 pm
-
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 3680
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:53 am
Re: Curry leaves
Galangal and tumeric? yes they do, but have you ever tried a fresh tumeric root? I have never come across fresh galangal so I may be comparing apples to cucumbers, but it doesn't taste like the galangal in dried chips I have used, and tumeric powder is totally off the table in this race. *confused* I should probably just try it some time.
- leela
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 31341
- Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2012 3:46 pm
Re: Curry leaves
I brought barberries back from Iran. I assumed that the fruits in my mix melange (I love that they call it that) weren't barberries because they're smaller and black. But I'm wondering if they're just barberries that have been dried further.
Pass the wine...
- VinnyD
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 67183
- Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 3:35 pm
-
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 3680
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:53 am
Re: Curry leaves
wot? Vinny did you just make a funny? the universe is going to get all wonky.
-
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 13496
- Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:27 pm
Re: Curry leaves
In S. East Asian Mythology, both tumeric and galangal are thought to be cooling elements, and so are somewhat interchangeable. It's all too typical of Mr I know I fact to point out that they are not exactly alike.
If you get a fresh tumeric root (or several), plant it in a pot. It'll grow a bit and you'll get some beautiful, delicate flowers to eat too. Fresh tumeric will stain a countertop, so be mindful when you slice/grate it.
Obv. powdered stuff like lime leaf and curry leaf powder is less pungent than the real thing. So put in a lot.
If you get a fresh tumeric root (or several), plant it in a pot. It'll grow a bit and you'll get some beautiful, delicate flowers to eat too. Fresh tumeric will stain a countertop, so be mindful when you slice/grate it.
Obv. powdered stuff like lime leaf and curry leaf powder is less pungent than the real thing. So put in a lot.
- cuchulainn
- Instigator
- Posts: 32239
- Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2005 5:57 pm
Re: Curry leaves
You can buy dried galangal and soak it in water before using.
-
- Stew Ingredient
- Posts: 3680
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:53 am
Re: Curry leaves
Not sure what a 'E.Asian mythological cooling element' tastes like but I'll take your word for it