Indian Bay Leaf

Commonly known as Tej Patta, tejpat, or Tamalpatra in Indian subcontinent, is used to flavor various Indian curries and rice. The leaves have slightly aromatic flavor like cinnamon. However, this is not that bay leaf commonly used in western cooking. Even though they are from one of the group of Cinnamonum trees, within the Lauraceae family, which is native to India, Nepal, Bhutan, and China, but Indian bay leaf gives a different taste than bay leaf, when you use in your recipe.

The style of using Indian bay leaf is different too, when cooking, dried Indian bay leaves first browned in the oil to increase the aroma. It is also known as Malabar leaf, Indian bark, Indian cassia, or malabathrum, and used extensively in the cuisines of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan, particularly in the Moghul cuisine of North India and Nepal and in tsheringma herbal tea in Bhutan.