Indian cuisine is an amalgam of myriads of ingredients- veggies, spices and herbs. From the robust garam masala to dhaniya and pudina, almost every Indian dish has an assortment of spices and herbs in the backend to bring out the flavours in the dish. One such herb is curry leaves or our very favourite kadhi patta. The dish is known to bring out the authentic flavours in most South Indian dishes. Be it the humble chutney or the comforting rasam or sambar, most South Indian dishes are incomplete without a tadka of curry leaves.
Hailing from Odisha, I have mostly indulged in tropical flavours and after staying in South India for about five years, my father shares a special bond with South Indian food too. So, most of our courses have curry leaves in them. From the morning upma to the dalma for lunch and dinner, numerous dishes at my home have curry leaves in them. Hence, the supply and storage of the herb are quite regular. So, to save herself the extra effort and wastage of food, my mom takes extra care of the curry leaves while storing them. And to help you keep curry leaves fresh longer, here are some tips you can follow.
1. Before storing the leaves, make sure you remove the main stem and separate the leaves from it.
2. Wash the leaves thoroughly to remove all the dirt from them as impurities will lead to early spoilage.
3. Spread the leaves on a clean cotton cloth and let them dry before storing them.
4. Moisture is the biggest enemy of curry leaves. Fan-dry the leaves for 2-3 hours before storing the leaves.
5. We often tend to keep all the leaves in one place. However, it's better to discard the spoiled leaves and keep only the good ones.
6. Store the dry curry leaves in an air-tight box.
7. If you want to incorporate the flavours of curry leaves in a dish, you can sun-dry it for 2-3 days and grind it to a fine powder and add it to your curries.
We hope these tips will help you store curry leaves longer. Do let us know if they work out.