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In India curry leaves are added almost all curries.

I personally hate them. You don't eat them, but just keep them on the side of the plate and throw them away.

1) What is the purpose of adding curry leaves?

2) Does the taste of the curry change when you add curry leaves? Does it make it worse or make it better?

3) Do any other country's recipes use curry leaves? If yes, which ones?

4) Are there any health benefits of adding curry leaves?

5) Is it better not to add curry leaves?

6) Are curry leaves added to any other non-curry recipes?

Wally
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  • "Almost all curries"? My recipe collection begs to differ. (And I eat them, btw) – Willem van Rumpt Dec 05 '16 at 08:52
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    Hi. This is really broad, one question per question is usually the limit. And some of your questions are off topic, and others are really opinion based. I think the question needs a lot of editing before it's a good fit for this site. You would probably find it helpful to check out the [tour](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/tour) and the [help center](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/help) – Megha Dec 05 '16 at 09:05
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    We would ask you to adhere to the policy of one question per post. I know it is convenient to ask all your related question in one post but it makes it really hard to give good answers as is. – Neil Meyer Dec 05 '16 at 09:07
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    Indeed, see the help center: rants masked as questions are off topic. http://cooking.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask. Just because you hate curry leaves, it does not mean that there has to be a strict rule saying that it is good or bad to add them to food. – rumtscho Dec 05 '16 at 12:17
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    Bay leaves (for example) are used in a similar way and are also removed when used whole. They give some flavour. Or consider whole cardamom pods. The flavour they give is undeniable but few people eat them. – Chris H Dec 05 '16 at 12:37
  • Southern India uses a lot of curry leaves, Sri Lanka too. Northern India & Pakistan, Bangladesh etc don't use them much, if at all. – Tetsujin Jun 01 '23 at 17:41

2 Answers2

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Most of your questions are a matter of personal taste!

1) What is the purpose of adding curry leaves?

I'd say adding a nice taste to the meal (as long as you like it)

2) Does the taste of the curry change when you add curry leaves? Does it make it worse or make it better?

yes it does. It will make your curry better... as long as you like the taste of it

3) Do any other country's recipes use curry leaves? If yes, which ones?

I have seen curry leaves in many SE countries and cuisines.

4) Are there any health benefits of adding curry leaves?

They are believed to have multiple benefits 1, 2, etc.

5) Is it better not to add curry leaves?

Well, again, as long as you like it

6) Are curry leaves added to any other non-curry recipes?)

I have seen them in many other meals than curry both in India and in SE Asia. Here is a primer for some recipes using them.

Vincent Bonhomme
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  • I would like to add to the point number 6) Curry leaves are used in Lemon rice and other rice based dishes. In fact in southern India chutney powder is made out of curry leaves which is very aromatic and healthy too – skay Dec 06 '16 at 11:22
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First of all, we need to distinguish between fresh and dried curry leaves. Dried curry leaves add a fairly strong and bitter, wooden and earthy flavor to the dish. Fresh curry leaves add a flowery, citrous and piny flavor. The flavors of curry leaves are very volatile, so they are rarely found in pre-made spice blends (except Madras-Curry) and the proper use is to add fresh curry leaves only a few minutes before the cooking is done.

Another use is to fry fresh leaves for a short moment in oil, to extract the volatile flavors and then remove the leaves and continue the cooking just with the oil.

Besides Indian curry dishes, curry leaves are also used traditionally for Samosa and Dal dishes.

John Hammond
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  • "tea-ish" would also be fit to describe part of the fresh flavor :) – rackandboneman Dec 06 '16 at 12:37
  • ...though I think the bitter wooden and earthy flavor could be better achieved by adding actual wood and earth - never found any sense in the dried variety, except for grinding in as part of spice mixes just for sake of following the recipe ;) – rackandboneman Dec 06 '16 at 12:39