Sometimes one simple ingredient can step up your game and add that little something extra to a dish.

Meet fresh curry leaves.  They come from the curry tree, Murraya koenigii.

Curry leaves are incredibly aromatic. They have a taste and aroma all their own.  Couldn’t quite put my finger on the flavor of curry leaves, as their flavor is so distinct.  Upon reading that curry leaves are a member of the citrus family, I wasn’t entirely surprised.  They have a subtle, citrus quality to them.

Curry leaves are common in South Indian cooking, but completely unrelated to your traditional curry spice blend.  Typically, curry leaves are quickly sizzled in hot oil, along with spices and other aromatics. Toasting the leaves heightens their aroma and infuses flavor into a dish.  The toasted curry leaves can then be added to salads, rice, lentils/dals, chutneys, seafood, chicken…oh, in addition to flavoring the dish at hand, toasted curry leaves are completely edible and quite tasty.

Like many other plants, curry leaves have a host of medicinal properties, including aiding in digestion, treating cuts and burns, preventing premature graying and stimulating hair growth, improving eyesight, controlling blood sugars…who knew?  I find the healing properties of plants fascinating — food as medicine (absent the laundry list of unwanted side effects).

You should be able to find curry leaves at most Indian markets.  Make sure to get fresh curry leaves; dried curry leaves have little flavor.  Fresh curry leaves have a relatively short shelf life in the refrigerator, but will keep for several months in the freezer.

Once you have fresh curry leaves on hand, the possibilities abound.

Today I made a yellow lemon rice, spiced with cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric, fenugreek, chiles, plenty of lemon juice and zest, and a nice big handful of toasted curry leaves.

Topped the rice with shrimp and crispy garlic chips.