Original content by Wilmot W. – Master Gardener
Curry Growing Information
The curry leaf plant is native to India and Sri Lanka and has small and very pungent aromatic leaves. The leaves are used in Asian cooking, mainly in curries and soups. Murraya Koenigii (Curry Leaves) comes in three different varieties:
All three varieties have one thing in common. They like full sun, very well drained soil, which should be on the dry side and they need fertilizer during the summer months. Used in cooking, there is nothing like picking the right amount of fresh curry leaves when you need them.
Tips on Growing Curry Plants
Curry Leaf Pesto Recipe
Ingredients:
1 Cup of fresh Curry leaves (Remove the individual leaves from the stem)
1 Quarter of Red Onion diced
2 Large green Chilies chopped *
4 Medium Garlic cloves peeled and chopped
½” Length of fresh Ginger stem thinly sliced
¼ Tea spoon of ground Black Pepper
¼ Tea spoon of Salt
Juice of a whole fresh Lime
(* You can control how hot you want the Pesto to be adding or reducing the quantity of Chilies)
When you are selecting the curry leaves for making Pesto, try to use most healthy and mature leaves mixed with younger leaves to get a balance of flavor, taste and its natural oil.
In a food processor or hand blender, blend the Curry Leaves, Onion, Chilies, Garlic and Ginger for a few minutes then add Ground Black Pepper and Salt and continue to blend to get the Pesto to the right texture. Remove the Pesto into a glass dish and add the lime juice and mix well and leave it for hour or so that he natural oil from the curry leaves to permeate in the Pesto. Do not incorporate any olive or other oils to this so that you can enjoy the natural oils of Curry leaves. You can leave the Pesto in the glass container in the refrigerator and use the Pesto up to two weeks. Use it as a spread on your sandwiches, mix it with your Pasta, use it the same way you use chutney or salsa. Not only does it taste good, you know it does you good!
Recorded LIVE
Who: Wilmot W
When: December 8th, 2012
Where: The Garden Pool in Mesa, AZ
Length: 35 minutes
This class was recorded live in a classroom setting. To be a part of our classes in person, join our meetup group.
Grow your own Curry Leaf Plant!
Get your Curry plants here.