52
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Does chilli get milder with cooking?
You'll sometimes hear television cooking show hosts describe what they're doing as "cooking out" the paste. What they're actually doing is altering the flavor of the chili itself, not manipulating the ...
- 4,084
31
votes
Accepted
Would there be a difference between boiling whole black peppercorns or fine ground black pepper in a stew?
Well, I've never had whole black peppercorns dissolve. In very long cooking, and depending on the variety and age of the peppercorn, they can soften somewhat. But when adding whole peppercorns to a ...
- 31.9k
30
votes
Why does my curry taste flat
Ideas
Old spices? If you are not making curry often maybe your spices are aged. They lose their pop. Your mix looks good. Try again with new. Buy whole spices when you can - they keep better.
...
- 6,580
29
votes
Why does my curry taste flat
The answer is definitely a lack of salt.
Particularly if you're new to cooking or new to cooking dishes like curries and stews, you might not be accustomed to the amount of salt you need to add to ...
- 391
23
votes
Accepted
Why does my curry taste flat
In addition to Willk's answer, which may have discovered the age of some of your spice rack contents - cumin & other short-life ground spices can sometimes be flat even when new, from supermarkets....
- 26.4k
20
votes
What are substitutions for coconut in curry?
Thai curry recipes often use a lot, and the flavour is distinctive. You'll need to experiment. Your idea of cashews is a good place to start. What I've often used in Indian curries is ground almonds (...
- 41.5k
19
votes
Would there be a difference between boiling whole black peppercorns or fine ground black pepper in a stew?
Peppcorns don't dissolve.
They soften, and they give up a lot of their flavour, but they don't dissolve. Neither does ground pepper but that's pieces too small to spot. I'm not sure why you're not ...
- 41.5k
18
votes
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When should I add curry paste?
You typically want to bloom the spices by cooking it over high heat for some period of time. But if you cook it for too long, you risk burning the spices.
If you're trying to brown meat, the moisture ...
- 77.2k
15
votes
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Making my Chicken Madras more savoury
Let me try to at least start this one off…
Your recipe, as it stands, isn't bad for the finalisation stage of the curry, but what you are seriously missing is the base sauce.
The base sauce has all ...
- 26.4k
13
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Non-spicy substitute for chili peppers when making a Thai curry paste from scratch
Let me take a wild swing -
I think trying to generate the volume required by using jalapeños would be too hot for your friend & you're right that a regular capsicum/bell pepper wouldn't have ...
- 26.4k
11
votes
Can I use garam masala instead of curry powder?
No, you won't get the same flavor or color. Curry powder is a blend of turmeric, cumin, coriander, and sometimes fenugreek, black pepper, mustard or cardamom. Curry powder is generally added towards ...
- 72.5k
11
votes
What liquid should I use in a mango curry?
If you want a curry to taste strongly of mango then the liquid you should use is...mango. Eaten by itself mango is very flavorful, especially when fresh and ripe, the frozen mango I've used is not ...
- 72.5k
10
votes
Substitute for coconut milk in curry
A reasonably light cream (about 15% fat) should be fine as a substitute.
It will lack the specific coconut flavour, obviously, but that's fine in this case. What's more important is the fat as a ...
- 10.9k
10
votes
Weird problem with curry sauce
I think the times you did it with no troubles you used smaller portions, right? These big portions simply do not cool down quickly enough, and the temperature stays too long in the danger zone, say ...
- 1,389
10
votes
Why does my curry taste so bland?
The recipe is easy on spices with (perceived) spiciness: No peppers, just the usual amount of ginger and only 2 cloves. On top of that, close to half a liter of coconut milk gets added, which will ...
- 2,117
10
votes
Does chilli get milder with cooking?
From long cooking, the capsaicin could distribute throughout the food in a way that will make it more palatable, but the capsaicin content will not drastically change.
If this does not suffice: In a ...
- 15.2k
10
votes
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when to add the curry powder
None of these is categorically true. Adding it early or late will give different flavor, adding it at the very end of cooking will usually leave you with an unpleasant raw spice taste unless it is a ...
- 15.2k
10
votes
What are substitutions for coconut in curry?
Substitutes have been mentioned already, but how about going the other way?
There are more curries without coconut than there are with it. Many many curries use an onion base for thickness; coconut ...
- 26.4k
10
votes
When should I add curry paste?
When you look at the ingredients list, the red curry mentions water and vinegar, both of which are not frying off well.
So I think that this is the reason the red one is added later.
The use of the ...
- 2,062
9
votes
What is meant by "cook until the oil separates" in Indian curry recipes?
Oil and water have different boiling points. Oil has a higher boiling point as compared to water.Spices and aromatic release their flavors only in oil because the compounds in them that are ...
9
votes
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Forgot to add spices to curry
You will need to cook the spices before adding them, but you can add them in now and it will be fine. You can either dry-roast the spices in the pan or cook them in a little oil like making a tadka.
...
- 2,966
9
votes
Where did the apples in Japanese Curry come from?
Just to chart how British and Japanese tastes for apple in curry developed:
The first published recipe for curry discovered so far in British recipes is from Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made ...
- 516
8
votes
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Why is there no pork on the Indian take-away menu?
In the UK you see lamb and chicken on "Indian" restaurant menus, but not beef or pork. I suspect that in the colonial era when the English wanted meat there were goats (near enough the same as sheep) ...
- 41.5k
8
votes
Why is the English word "curry" used for all these different dishes?
"Curry" is based on the Tamil word "Kari", which refers to any of various highly-spiced side dishes intended to be eaten over rice. Englishmen from the British East India Company encountered the Tamil ...
- 54k
8
votes
Difference between curry and tikka masala?
'Curry' is a very general term, generally applied on cuisines from an outside perspective. In a particular area there may be a 'default' curry but this will differ widely in different places and ...
- 11k
7
votes
What would be a good substitute for coconut milk in curry sauces?
Try adding fresh milk or skimmed milk as substitute... It really works. I personally tried many other ingredients to replace the coconut milk while making Malaysian curry... Milk works the best for me....
- 71
7
votes
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Aiding the Maillard reaction: Baking Powder or Baking Soda?
You want to use baking soda. Baking powder is used as a leavening agent and does this by combining an acid and a base, so it would not make your chicken more alkaline. Baking soda, on the other hand ...
- 1,102
7
votes
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slow cooking chicken thigh in a spice mix
There is almost no such thing as overcooking chicken thighs. Chicken thighs are simply the most forgiving piece of meat known to man. The only thing that concerns me about your plan is that you plan ...
- 58.3k
7
votes
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Does toasting and grinding whole spice really improve curry flavor?
I don't think roasting spices "improves" them or rejuvenates stale spices but it certainly does change the flavor profile in ways that may be desirable in some cases, for some spices, less so for ...
- 2,966
7
votes
What are substitutions for coconut in curry?
I don't know much about Thai curries but there are plenty of Indian curries that are broadly similar to coconut-based ones but with sauces made with cashews and other nuts. Typically, you'd want to ...
- 3,231
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