Are cooked, dried curry leaves are edible?

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

i bought dried curry leaves..

are they ok to eat after cooked?

they seem hard to be taken out of the stew that i plan to make.. [when it's ready..]

maybe i will have more indian questions to add here later..

thanks..

 

[jennyema]

No, they are like bay leaves. Flavoring but not for eating.

 

[jazzerlord]

i bought dried curry leaves..

are they ok to eat after cooed?

they seem hard to be taken out of the stew that i plan to make.. [when it's ready..]

maybe i will have more indian questions to all here later..

thanks..

Dried curry leaves are basically a flavoring, and you can just leave them in the dish so they keep adding taste while you eat.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I've only ever bought fresh curry leaves, and you can definitely eat those after you cook them. Normally you fry them along with the other aromatics and they soften up in the oil or ghee.

Tip: if you want to remove them, leave them on the stalk. One of the chickpea dishes I prepare calls for 20-30 curry leaves. I can't imagine trying to remove that many curry leaves from the finished dish.

 

[pepperhead212]

I always use fresh, and I always eat them. But I can't say anything about the dried ones - if they seem hard, I wouldn't eat them.

 

[Badjak]

I use fresh as I got a curry tree in the garden (well, I had one, I got suckers coming up all over now)
Anyway, I normally chuck them, like bayl eaves, but you could eat them I suppose

 

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

i see

 

[taxlady]

I think they are hard and unpleasant to eat get in your mouth. You could put them in a tea infuser or wrap them in cheese cloth with a food safe string. That way you would get the flavour and easily remove them later. If they are still on the stalks, you could tie those together with food safe string and tie the other end of the string to the handle of the pot to make them easy to find and remove.

 

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

i don't have a tea infuser or cheese cloth....
the plan is to pressure cook the stew.. so i will not use the curry leaves that i bought eventually. i don't want them to block the valve..
i haven't thought of this before i bought the leaves..

tnx

edit..
i will add other more intense spices and flavors like hing.. garam masala.. better than bullion.. and more..

 

[Steve Kroll]

edit..
i will add other more intense spices and flavors like hing.. garam masala.. better than bullion.. and more..

If you are thinking adding more spices will replace the curry leaves, this is not the answer. In my opinion, you are better off just leaving the curry leaves out of the recipe, rather than overpowering the dish with other spices.

In the future maybe try to find a source for fresh curry leaves.

 

[dragnlaw]

@ Seeing-to-Believe You should be able to find fresh leaves in Israel.
If the leaves are whole I don't think they will block your valve any more than any other ingredient in the recipe.
I distinctly remember my mom leaving them in.
Just remember to count them when you take them out. Three in - Three out. Just as you do with Bay Leaves.
Those dried leaves can be very sharp and can cut your mouth/throat.

 

[pepperhead212]

I have never had a problem with the curry leaves being sharp and pointed, like bay leaves. And the way I use a lot of them is at the end of the dish, when the tempering spices are fried, in a small amount of oil, the curry leaves usually added last, with the asafoetida, and it fries briefly, until crisp, then stirred into the dish, and it's not cooked long, yet it's never crisp or sharp when I eat them - they soften in no time.

 

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

can you tell me why the hing is added at the end?

 

[pepperhead212]

can you tell me why the hing is added at the end?

That's just something traditionally added at the end, when making a tarka, though it's not always added. Here's the way it's usually made: 2-3 tsp vegetable oil, ghee, or coconut oil are heated in a small pan - for Indian cooking, these pans are specifically for this purpose, and I have a 1 qt saucepan I use mostly for this. Some black mustard seeds are usually added first, and heated until they start popping, then some cumin seeds added (sometimes these are added with the mustard seeds), followed quickly by some whole chilis - if used - and rolled around in the oil until browning, then the asafoetida and curry leaves are added, and the leaves usually crackle and dry out quickly, then this mix is poured onto the dish it is being used in, and the surface of the food sizzles, from that hot oil. In most dishes, it is stirred in, followed by some chopped cilantro, and it's done. This hot oil probably drives off the unpleasant aromas from the asafoetida, as that flavor is never in any of the foods I use this method with, like simmering for long periods of time. This method usually takes less than 30 seconds, once the oil is heated up!

 

[taxlady]

Pepper, would most of the flavour of the curry leaves be in the oil at the point one pours it onto the food? Could the leaves be removed to avoid getting them in the food, but still have added flavour? What about other ingredients, would they have added most of their flavour to the oil?

 

[pepperhead212]

TL, I never thought about removing any of those spices, because I just eat all of them, with the dish. Especially the hot peppers!

Some Indians remove the leaves (as well as the hot peppers!), as they eat, but some just eat them, like I do. As with anything, taste is subjective and especially with spices.