How to Balance Your Curry Flavours (2024)

FAQs

How to balance curry flavor? ›

Adding citrus or vinegar provides a tangy flavor that balances the heat. Yogurt or sour cream can cool down the curry. Adding a pinch of sugar or ketchup can counteract the spiciness. Starchy foods like potatoes or rice can absorb heat.

​​Add spices​

The easiest way to fix a bland and tasteless curry is by adding spices like red chili powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala, curry leaves and turmeric. Just make a quick tempering and pour over the curry to give it a nice punch of spices and herbs.

Solution: Add dairy. A curry that is too hot to handle can be defused by the addition of a little dairy. A tablespoon of yoghurt, a dollop of cream or even a sprinkle of cheese does wonders to cool the hot spices in the dish. Top Tip: Add the dairy when serving but don't add it while cooking on the stove.

Coconut milk can work wonders to cool down a spicy curry, but only if the flavours complement the dish; for example, coconut milk works well for Thai curry and other similar coconut-based curries. Alternatively, a dash of milk can also work well, but make sure it doesn't split when cooking.

Fresh cream can also be used to mellow down the hot spicy taste of extra garam masala in a dish. Use of fresh cream is good for paneer dishes. In any paneer curry if there is extra garam masala, add 1-2 cups of fresh cream as per the quantity and the spicy taste will be adjusted.

Add Sugar

Sugar is one of the most effective ingredients when it comes to adjusting flavours in a dish. This is also true for reducing sourness from curries. Add half teaspoon of sugar to your curry and give it a nice mix. You can add more sugar if you feel the curry is still sour.

If the coconut flavor is too strong, try adding ingredients like lime juice, tamarind or fish sauce. If your sauce needs to be thicker but you don't want to change the flavor, simply add a teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with water.

Add coconut milk which will mellow the overpowering flavour. Acidic ingredients such as tamarind paste, lemon juice, or tomato sauce can be effective in balancing the taste. Prepare a mixture of curd, salt, red chilly powder, and water, and add it to the curry.

Whether you may be familiar with the differences between curries from various countries, such as Indian versus Japanese curry, and perhaps even know how to make them at home, there's a special flavor enhancer that you may not have thought to add: honey.

How to get depth of flavour in curry? ›

Once you've slow-cooked to perfection, achieve the perfect balance by adding a touch of sweet (sugar or jaggery), sour (tamarind or lime), salty (salt!) or savoury (toasted ground fenugreek leaves), or a big handful of chopped coriander – these sorts of ingredients will really make your curry sing.

Add the juice of half a lemon or a lime, 1–2 tablespoons (15–30 mL) of vinegar or tomato sauce, or ¼ cup (50 g) of fresh tomatoes or pineapple to the curry, and see if the spiciness is reduced. Taste the curry after each addition to check how spicy it is before adding more ingredients.

Citrus-scented cleaners and deodorizers work well to neutralize curry odor, as the acidity present in lemon counteracts the vaporized cooking oils. So, when you can, reach for citrus-based cleaners and lemon essential oil to improve results.

Since many Indian curry recipes include yogurt or coconut milk, it is not out of character to add either to a dish. Both will help balance out the saltiness. You only need to add about 2 to 3 tablespoons of yogurt, coconut milk, or cream, and should cook over low heat for a few minutes to blend.

Adding dairy is an ideal way to dull down the heat in hot spicy food. Try serving spicy curries with a dollop of plain yoghurt or serve that spicy soup with a hearty pour of cream or sour cream. Another method to counteract spiciness in a dish is to add a squeeze of acid such as lime or lemon juice, even vinegar.

Fresh cream/Malai

Another simple hack to fix excess haldi is curries by adding a few teaspoons of fresh malai or cream, this will subside the bitterness and add a wonderful taste to the curries, stews and sabzis.