Kasuri Methi or dried fenugreek leaves are an essential part of North Indian dishes.Even a pinch or two fo this dried herb is sure to perk up the flavor of a dish.And it is one of my favorite ingredient too. So when it was time to get ready with the post for Recipe ReDux with the theme - Get your Dehydrator on, I knew I had to make Kasuri Methi at home.
I don't have a dehydrator and I don't think we need one too.The sun here saves all the efforts and we do make very good use of it in the summer months where we dehydrate produce and make several sun dried stuffs that are part of our meal.The Sun dried / Preserves section in my blog has a lot of stuffs that we make during summer.
The next best way to dehydrate vegetables is in the microwave.I experimented and found this when I dehydrated a huge batch of curry leaves to take back to China were we live for a more than half a decade. Curry leaves are not available there and a South Indian dish does not taste its best without this ingredient.
Anyway,I used the same principle to dry a bunch of fenugreek leaves.Preparing this at home is way cheaper than getting it in the store. The batch that I made at home was from a huge bunch that cost INR 15/-. The quantity of the final product that I got at home would cost 5 times more! Its economical and we get the satisfaction of making it at home.
A peek at the fresh produce we had from our garden a few months back...
Here is what you need to do to make kasuri methi at home..
- Clean the fenugreek leaves to remove the stalk and the roots. Wash well with water,drain and spread on a plate / kitchen towel to get rid of the moisture.
- Take a handful of fenugreek leaves and spread it on a paper napkin / on the glass turn table of the microwave oven.See to that the leaves do not over lap and are spread out.
- Microwave on 80% powder for 30 seconds. Check and MW for a couple of seconds more till the leaves are slightly crisp.
- Remove from the MW and spread on a dry plate. It will crisper after MW for a few more seconds.
- Repeat for the remaining bunch of fenugreek leaves.
Note:
- The oven timings will vary based on the quantity used per batch.
- Lightly crush the dried fenugreek leaves before using .
- Store in an airtight container.
The best part of making this at home is how
good it looks.Here is a comparison of the homemade and store bought
kasuri mehti. The one I made at home looks green and bright. The other
bowl is the store bought leaves and you can clearly see the difference!
And the homemade batch has a fantastic aroma too!
This kasuri methi is used in a lot of North Indian gravies. But here is one dish where this is the star! Check out the Gobi Kasuri recipe ....
This post is for Recipe Redux....
Here are a few more fresh produces that can be sun dried...
Sun dried Turkey berries
Sun dried Green Chillies
Sun dried Potato Chips
Curry leaves dried using MW
Bon Appetit...
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Labels: Basic Recipes, Cooking with herbs / flowers, How To......, Recipe ReDux, Step-by-step Pictorial Recipes
