Spice Guide

Consistency and quality control have been a hallmark of Patak's Foods since the company was founded. The flavor of Patak's® products is heavily dependent on the quality and freshness of the herbs and spices used and as such Kirit Pathak personally supervises their selection and importation from India and around the world.

It is the grinding process that releases aromatic oils from spices and these oils create the delicious flavors of Indian cuisine. Once ground, the flavors of the volatile oils fade rapidly.

With that in mind, one of the many things that set Patak's apart from other manufacturers is that the whole spices are ground at the point of manufacture to ensure freshness of flavor is retained.

Some herbs & spices commonly used in Indian cooking:

Curry Leaves / Kadi Patta

Confusingly, not all Indian dishes referred to generically as "curry" actually contain curry leaf. "Curry" is also used as a generic term to describe a wet entrée such as Tikka Masala or Korma. In the UK, where Indian foods are hugely popular, friends will often ask if you would like to "go for a curry".

An analogy would be the way in which the word "chili" can be used to refer to the hot peppers or the "chili" that Americans spoon onto hotdogs.

Curry leaves come from the Murraya Koenigii – a small, deciduous tree of Indian origin that grows wild in the Himalayan foothills as well as in many other parts of India, Northern Thailand and Sri Lanka. Each slender stalk of this tree can give up to 25 leaves. Although it has been cultivated on a small scale in private gardens in India for centuries, it only started to be commercially produced recently. Although available as dried leaves, it is much better to buy them fresh from Asian stores, where they may be labeled "Meetha Neem" or "Kari (sometime Kadhi) Patta". They can be frozen although they will keep in a refrigerator in an airtight bag for at least a week.

Dried curry leaves have almost no flavor to them, but fresh leaves, when bruised, are extremely aromatic. The leaves give off an intense spicy aroma with a citrus note and have a warm, pleasant and lemony taste that is faintly bitter.

Prior to use, curry leaves are detached from their stalk. They feature in dishes like saag in Gujarat to the fish curries of Kerala. Curry leaves are vital in Chennai (Madras), the sole region in which they form the basis of most masalas. In the majority of India they are simply used as a tempering in the last few minutes of cooking.