JULIE BIUSO

Curry leaves are easy to grow in your own garden, and they add subtle flavour and visual interest to your cooking

In season: curry leaves.

First, to be clear, curry leaves come from a large shrub that can grow into a tall tree (Murraya koenigii) and should not be confused with the curry plant, a shrub with dusty grey-green leaves and yellow flowers that flourishes in dry rocky parts of the garden.

Sniffing a curry plant is like sticking your nose in a jar of Madras curry powder. Curry leaves are more subtle, more intriguing, and their aroma is complex – I don’t know anyone who can put their finger on it exactly, though I’ll try: crushed lemon leaf, dried tangerine peel, tobacco box, fenugreek seed, cumin seed, mace, rocket and bacon. True! Like a plump pork and bacon sausage cooked slowly in butter with all its gorgeous sticky goo gathering in the edges of the pan, to which is added citrus, more than a whiff of smoke and secret spices and herbs. Yes, it’s oh so captivating, but scent alone is not its definitive characteristic: it is somewhat bitter to taste, warming in the chest, savoury and spicy.

The almond-shaped leaves are used in much of Southeast Asia and are

a mainstay of southern Indian and Sri Lankan cuisine. They’re usually considered a spice rather than a herb, though there is no right or wrong definition, and they can be used at the beginning of cooking, or to finish off a dish. The leaves can be toasted or fried with spices at the start of making a curry, and they’re often discarded before serving – it seems many people don’t like chewing the leaves, just the flavour they impart.

Other uses for curry leaves include grinding the fresh or toasted leaves to a paste with coconut and spices to make fresh chutney, mixing them with spices for a dry rub, or adding to a liquid marinade.

It’s easy enough to grow your own shrub in warmer parts of New Zealand. You do need to consider where you plant it, not just because it needs rich and well-drained soil and lots of sun, but because the small black berries it produces are poisonous. That aside, it is a good tree to have in the garden as it deters bugs, and if you give it space to grow, it will give you access to curry leaves all year round.

“The leaves can be toasted or fried with spices”