Curry leaves
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For some reason I’ve been thinking about curries lately, and thus about curry leaves. Although most curries aren’t made with the fresh leaves, I wanted to make one that was. So Wednesday morning I was overjoyed to find, amid the tabled garden that is Bill Coleman’s stall at the Santa Monica farmers market, bags of fresh curry leaves. They’re pretty things, like tiny bay leaves, feathered on a branch; according to Alan Davidson’s ‘Penguin Companion to Food,’ the curry tree belongs to the Rutaceae family, the same family to which citrus fruits belong. And the leaves don’t smell like curry powder (it being a combination of many spices), but more like faintly spicy green peppercorns.
Where to look for a recipe? ‘Mangoes & Curry Leaves,’ by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (Artisan; 2005) seemed the logical answer. (Jamie Oliver also calls for them often in his cookbooks.) Among the 23 recipes in their book that use curry leaves was this one (pictured above) for green tomato curry. It was pretty simple: Just cook 1/2 cup chopped onion, 2 minced green chiles and about 8 curry leaves in a little oil, then add a teaspoon of bonito flakes, 1/4 teaspoon ground fenugreek, a pinch of turmeric, 1 pound chopped green tomatoes and 2 teaspoons salt, and cook for 15 minutes. Add 3/4 cup coconut milk and reduce. Done. Perfect with a pot of rice and grilled lamb or fish kebabs -- which is just what I’m going to cook for dinner.
Curry leaves, $1.50 for a small plastic bag (about 1/2 ounce), from Coleman Family Farms. Curry leaves can also be found at India Sweets and Spices in Atwater Village $1 a bag.
-- Amy Scattergood
