Last week Sheena and Co. headed to Tampa, FL for spring break. We have great family friends who live there, so it was nice for Sheena, Sammy and the boys to stay at “home” instead of a hotel. They enjoyed their week there with great activities, amazing company and delicious home made food :).
Our aunt there is an amazing cook, so Sheena was also able to pick up some yummy recipes and cooking tricks from her! Since it is Florida and the weather is almost always warm and humid, she is able to grow a lot of cooking essentials right in her back yard. One of the things she grows and Sheena brought back was limdo (curry leaves). The three of us loveeee cooking with these in all our Indian dishes. Mommy Vaid always uses them in her cooking, so we have been used to this added taste on our buds.
One of the biggest problems we have with limbo, along with methi (fenugreek leaves) and dhana (coriander leaves), is that after we buy a bunch, we can never use it fast enough before it goes bad! We are always left with at least half the portion going to waste. While in Florida, our aunt gave us a method to freeze limdo, methi and dhana and we are sharing it with you! We never really considered freezing as we always thought the color wouldn’t remain green, but it does! It is so easy and quick and we now never have to worry about wasting any of it.
First wash the curry leaves (limdo) and then place them to dry on a towel until all water has evaporated. Preferably leave to dry overnight.
After the leaves are completely dry, take them off the stem and place into a freezer friendly container. Be sure to lay a couple of paper towels at the bottom to suck up any moisture that may be left. Cover and freeze. When you want to use these, open the container, take a few out to add to dish and put the rest back in freezer.
Another way to freeze curry leaves (limdo) is to blend them into a paste and freeze. After blending into a paste, put it all into a ziplock bag and freeze. Once frozen, take it out and break it into small pieces and place in a container and back into the freezer. When cooking, take a small broken piece and add to cooking. This method actually enables everyone eating the cooked dish to eat the leaves as they have a lot of health benefits in being eaten.
Menthi and Dhana can also be frozen the same way and used as needed so that you aren’t left with a lot of waste. We also do zip lock freezer method with ginger, garlic and chillies which we sharedĀ here.
