Forgive me if I repeat, but how much do I lose from the traditional curry blend by using substitutes? And what subs?
Just that they are the most unlikely ingredients to have to hand.
Well Tim, it is just a different flavour to curry when you add curry leaves. bear in mind that most north Indians do not use curry leaves except in a few special dishes, I am sure you will be fine.
I don't think you can substitute the flavour. If you ever go to an Indian shop or any of your kids go there buy a few packets, wash and dry on towel overnight and then freeze in a plastic bag. they last for a very long time and can be used directly from the freezer.
Regards
Mamta
if you mean the so called Kaffir lime leaves, yes, I find they keep better frozen, in fact I buy my frozen. They are easier to cut as well if frozen. The low temperature reduces loss of the very volatile oils.
Thanks - really, I meant substitutions. My taste buds are not well attuned to these very subtle flavours & I've always wondered whether they are used because they are growing there or whether the end result would bear no resemblance if they were omitted or substituted.
my opinion is that there is no sub for curry leaves, or lime leaves, or are you asking whether one can sub for the other. My answer is no, never. The only subs I would make in Indian cookery (which come to mind!):
cassia for cinnamon and vice versa
mace for nutmeg and v v
black sesame for kalonji (for colour/morphology, not taste)
not even bay leaf for tej patta.
Apart from the first two I mentioned, I would always leave out a spice if I hadn't it to hand, rather than sub a less than perfect one.
Spot on!!
Actually, I prefer Mace in most non 'sweet' cases.
= Tim
so do I, Tim. In fact I use cassia instead of cinnamon for the same reason, although there is much confusion about the last two, even in India.
Another confusion is the use of bay leaves. These are not Indian; there they use the leaves of the cassia tree. Now those leaves have similar flavours to cassia, whereas bay leaves have flavours closer to green cardamon, So much so that I confine my common garam masala just to cassia, cloves, green cardamon and mace, and leave out any leaf, and the black pepper, which loses its aroma very quickly when crushed (or more accurately loses some of its flavours, more than others, which can upset the overall effect!). I never roast my gm's.