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The spice of Indian cuisine

Curry leaf is an integral part of most Indian dishes

FULL OF FLAVOUR Curry leaves

Curry leaf is indispensable to south Indian cuisine and is native to the Indian subcontinent. Indians emigrating to other lands invariably carry the tree to all continents of the world.

The earliest mention of the leaf is from Tamil writings dating back to the 1st Century AD. Curry leaf is extensively used in Tamil cuisine. The rest of India has learnt how to use this leaf from the Tamils. In fact, even the Hindi word for curry leaf is derived from a Tamil word, kari, which means a spicy sauce. The botanical name Murraya koenigii derives from two 18th Century botanists: the Swede Johann Andreas Murray and the German Johann Gerhard König.

Curry leaves flavour curry, chutneys, dal and sambar, pickles, soups, meat, fried foods and even buttermilk preparations. The leaves are used fresh, and the aroma of the leaves spluttering in hot oil fills south Indian homes everyday. Sambar and dal are impossible without curry leaves in the spluttering mix of spices. In Sri Lanka, the leaf flavours the island's burning-hot beef and chicken curries. The dried and powdered leaves, when lightly toasted, are used in spicy leaf powders.

Curry powder, a British invention, is actually a mixture of different spice powders and has very little to do with the curry leaf. Just to make the confusion worse, the curry tree is not the same as the curry plant. The latter is a European herb.

A 100 gm of fresh curry leaves contain around 110 calories. Clearly no one eats the leaves for their calorific value. Curry leaves are among the richest sources of micronutrients, antioxidants and carotene.

In fact, the carotene content in curry leaf is so high that one State government in South India recently ordered the inclusion of curry leaf powder in the midday meal provided to children in anganwadis.

Curry leaves are used in ayurvedic medicines as a digestive. They are also used to increase the appetite of convalescents. Curry leaf mixed with limejuice is a folk remedy for morning sickness.

RAJIV. M

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