Until I can learn to grow and maintain my own curry leaf plant, I’m simply at the mercy of store-bought leaves. I get them from either local Indian grocery stores or bigger Asian grocery stores. And with each purchase comes quite a bunch of sprigs. I like using them up as quickly as I can, but there are always some stragglers that don’t survive too long. So this time around, I decided I wanted to be proactive and get ahead of any spoilage. How could I possibly keep all that delicious flavor without having to make a new batch of Indian deliciousness multiple times a week? Enter CURRY LEAF OIL!
Curry leaves have a distinctive scent and flavor that they impart on foods. But make no mistake, curry leaves have nothing to do with curry powder. Curry powder was an invention long ago to bring Indian flavors to non-Indian households. You can learn to make your very own here (and it’s way better than store-bought!!). But I digress. The real star of this post is the curry leaf oil.
Side note: I’m 80% sure this concoction more or less is used to encourage hair growth and prevent graying in India. So if you’re not inclined to eat this up, by all means, treat yo’ mane!
This beautiful oil imparts the unique flavor of curry leaves whenever you want it — in butter/oil form! You can slather it on anything — chapati, rice, pizza. Or you can drizzle it as a finishing oil. And of course, you can use it to lay the foundation for other Indian dishes you make where the curry leaves are not as accessible at the time.
Curry Leaf Oil
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut oil
- 3-4 sprigs of curry leaves
Instructions
- In a pot, bring the coconut oil to a boil, then add the curry leaf sprigs.
- Allow the leaves to fry until crisp, but still green.
- Turn off the heat and let cool, keeping the leave in the oil
- Strain this into a jar for storing, or blend until curry leaves are very fine pour into a jar. This can be used to flavor Indian and non-Indian dishes with that unique and delicious flavor of curry leaves!
