In eastern India, the young leaves are commonly fried in a little bit of oil, and th resulting crispy leaves are crushed into rice and eaten as a first course.

I have had them as "bories" (itty-bitty balls of pureed neem leaves, then sun-dried) fried with diced eggplant, again eaten with rice.

/blue

thanks for the info Blue. It sounds like there may not be much difference between them. I'm really looking forward to harvesting the tender leaves and flower buds. yummy...bitter food.

Eggo,

Can you tell me where you found your indian neem tree. I have been looking for one for a long time now. Unfortunately Neem Tree farms does not ship to AZ.

Thanks in advance.

Azadirachta Indica (bitter neem) is different from the neem used in indian recipes. Bitter neem surely has several medicinal properties and is taken internally for medicinal purposes. But the neem used for indian dishes is called 'meetha neem' or sweet neem and its leaves are not as bitter as the leaves of the bitter neem. Sweet neem leaves are available at Indian grocery stores. Though both are called neem and they are related, but meetha neem is what you should look for to put in dishes.

'meetha neem' is another name for murraya koenigii (curry plant) if I am not mistaken. So called, because the leaves look somewhat similar, and only called by that name in northern India. 'kari patta' or murraya koenigii is a common constituent of southern Indian dishes.

It *was* azadirachta indica (a.d.) that *I* was referring to.
a.d. is also used in Indian cuisine, as mentioned before.

Eggo, if you have a large enough tree, you could also snap off a twig once in a while and chew on it, instead of brushing your teeth in the morning. :-)

/blue

Paperwhite, I got it in a trade with a Floridian a while back. I was just about to recommend to you Neem Tree Farms, the other is pctgardens or otherwise known as Pacific Tropical Gardens. Their in Hawaii and will ship.

Limca, yes I am also familiar with the curry plant and I am also growing it. As Blue mentions there are also dishes using the Indian neem, there is one in particular that I can't recall the name but it is made during an Indian holiday...maybe someone knows what that dish is called?

Thanks for the tip Blue....but I think I will stick to brushing my teeth in the morning, hehe.