I've been shopping for spices in local Indian shops for decades and I've often see these large packets of dried bay leaves. But I always ignored them - after all, fresh bay leaves are so much better and I have some in the garden. What I failed to realise is these are not bay leaves as we know them in the West.
I learned this recently from a Rick Stein TV show (Rick Stein's India) in which he was cooking in India and used them - mentioning that they tasted nothing like the bay leaves we normally used. So - I bought a pack to see. What a revelation! They have a fantastic aroma - of cloves and cinnamon plus something I can't define - not really like laurel bay leaves at all. Apparently they are also known as Cassia, Tejpaat or Malabar leaves.
They also look very different - Indian bay leaves are really large (about 3 times as big as Laurel Bay) and have three veins running down the length of the leaf which is quite distinctive.
If you haven't tried them and can get some then I urge you to try. Fantastic in curries (just break up the leaves a bit and leave as they are or dry fry and grind with other spices). I'm sure they could be used in lots of other dishes too.
I learned this recently from a Rick Stein TV show (Rick Stein's India) in which he was cooking in India and used them - mentioning that they tasted nothing like the bay leaves we normally used. So - I bought a pack to see. What a revelation! They have a fantastic aroma - of cloves and cinnamon plus something I can't define - not really like laurel bay leaves at all. Apparently they are also known as Cassia, Tejpaat or Malabar leaves.
They also look very different - Indian bay leaves are really large (about 3 times as big as Laurel Bay) and have three veins running down the length of the leaf which is quite distinctive.
If you haven't tried them and can get some then I urge you to try. Fantastic in curries (just break up the leaves a bit and leave as they are or dry fry and grind with other spices). I'm sure they could be used in lots of other dishes too.