Curry leaves
by Sheela Rani Chunkath
There is a piece of land in my organic farm called 'Sheela's Folly'. It is a rather extensive piece of land planted with curry leaf trees. Most well-wishers try to tell me that I really don't need that many trees and that as curry leaf by itself is difficult to market, I should consider just retaining a few for my personal use and destroying the rest. I have been resisting doing this for a decade now and most friends have decided to let the curry leaf patch be.
I love the smell of curry leaves. Reminds me of the sambar and rasam and roasted potatoes, all heavily tempered with gorgeous green curry leaves, my mother makes. My father-in-law would never pick it out and leave it by the side of the plate as many are wont to do but would chew it with much relish.
Another reason that the curry leaf patch is close to my heart is that I was involved very closely in the planting operation. I have an Andhravadu friend who is a specialist in curry leaf plantations. He told me that the best curry leaf seeds are available in Vijayawada and we should taken them on auction. So he arranged to buy the purplish-black seeds directly in the auction and transported to Chennai. Once the sackloads of seeds arrived we used an 'ammi', the local granite stone pestle, a flat variety, to gently pound the seeds. The outer coat, or the called fruit is broken and one can then see two seeds inside. Since removing each one manually is time consuming the broken ‘fruits’ are put into tubs of water and the actual seeds separated from the outer fruit coat. All this must be done without damaging the inner seeds. The seeds are then sown in close rows. It was an adventure of sorts and I like the results of my adventure as the trees, small ones about 7-10 feet tall, look vigorous and strong. Curry leaf trees can survive neglect and mismanagement and long droughts. I hate to fell survivors and so my curry leaf trees thrive, a testimony to the wisdom of our Siddhars and yogis who introduced this plant into our culinary and medical heritage.
The leaves are rich in fibres, minerals, proteins, vitamin A, B, B2, E and C, calcium, phosphorous, iron, magnesium, oxalic acid, and nicotinic acids. It has great anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, stimulant, anti-dysenteric, stomachic, carminative, anti-emetic, appetizer, anti-aging, hepato protective, and lipolytic properties. Curry leaf pacifies aggravated kapha and vata doshas.
In my earlier article on diabetes mellitus I had written about a powder where one of the main ingredients is curry leaf. Many of my diabetic friends and relative use it to great advantage and have seen a decrease in their sugar levels.
I wanted an exhaustive list of the chemical constituents in curry leaves and found so many that I decided that I would not list them here. Suffice to say that curry leaves are power house of useful phytochemicals. I am sharing details regarding two curry leaf preparations which I make at home. I collect organic curry leaves from the ‘Folly’ and make both the curry leaf powder and curry leaf oil.
For the curry leaf powder take two cups of tightly packed curry leaves. With a little oil saute 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds, 3 tablespoons of urad dhal, 3 tablespoons of channa dhal and 12 red Kashmiri chillies. Grind the chillies somewhat smoothly. The coriander seeds and dhals can be ground a little coarsely. To this add ½ teaspoon of coarsely ground jeera (No need to sauté the jeera). Take a small piece of tamarind and sauté it till it is crisp. Grind this in the mixie also. Now for the curry leaves if you have a microwave take washed and dried curry leaves (leave overnight under a fan) and place in the microwave for about a minute (at 900 watts or highest power setting of your microwave). In my microwave (which I seldom use) I found that this gave me absolutely green crispy leaves so I overcame my reluctance regarding microwave cooking and zapped the curry leaves in the microwave oven. Coarsely grind the curry leaves and mix all the ingredients with about 2 teaspoons of salt. You can have this with rice and ghee, for idlis, dosas, for curd rice or even add it your curries and gravies as my friend does.
The curry leaf oil is a cinch to make and is called Kalasaka tailam after the Sanskrit name for curry leaves. It is very fragrant and has a pretty dark green colour. Take two cups of organic coconut oil. Take one cup of tightly packed curry leaves. Grind the curry leaves smoothly to a paste in the mixie without adding any water. Keep a uruli (or any tawa with a heavy bottom) and heat the coconut oil, add the curry leaf paste and boil on low heat for about 20 minutes. Switch off the gas and let the paste keep simmering in the oil. Once it cools, filter with a fine mesh into a bottle.
The fragrant oil is a treat to use for oil massage. It can be used daily before a head bath also. It keeps your tresses shiny and black and helps better hair growth by strengthening the roots of the hair. By oiling the hair you improve your eyesight too. Include a little curry leaf powder and a Kalasaka tailam in your daily regimen.
--- The writer is retired Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu. She can be reached at Sheelarani.arogyamantra@gmail. com. Earlier articles can be accessed at http://arogyamantra.blogspot.com/