Topic: Secret ingredient what and/or why

[JerryM]

We know there is no such thing.

Occasionally each of us will come across something that was discounted or not even considered Important - only to find it hits us as a full on oversight.

On examples the biggest for me was salt.

For a while now I've been tasting rsholme123 curries.

In comparing what we do one thing that stands out is - sugar.

I was a complete disbeliever. I dont use it full stop. I do know it is called in many recipes (CA's jumping out for me). 

However since making chewy's red CTM I could not believe the difference 1 tsp makes (many makes side by side with and without sugar). I now include as STD in CTM.

Even more of a shock is that rsholme123 uses in madras. I'm reluctantly having to adjust my blinkers on sugar. 

Would be interesting to hear of any other similar.

[rshome123]

Hi Jerry, you're up late... Good man.

Sugar... It really is a tricky one for me to justify in curries, but it does work for me, whether it be white sugar, mango chutney, jaggery etc.

It does seem like a 'cheat', a 'cop out', a 'fudge' though, and I'm struggling somewhat with the 'BIR morality' of it. In all the videos I've seen of TA chefs cooking curries, I don't think I can remember sugar being added (CTM/Korma etc being the exception). 

Is the natural balance of sweetness supposed to be obtained by the skilful caramelisation/Maillard of ingredients (notably the base gravy pre-prep, and the cooking of base gravy in the pan fry)?

In good TA/Restaurant curries I've had, I don't immediately think 'this flavour isn't balanced enough and needs more sweetness'.  So, where is this gap being filled from? 

Is it a gap only for my tastebuds, i.e. I may require a little extra sweetness, or is it technique or ingredients the BIRs (and more experienced ameuters than I) are using?

All that being said, I know that sugar is used readily (and authentically) in Asian cuisines (e.g. Thai,Korean) to achieve balance of flavours... Sweet vs bitter vs sour vs hot vs umami (sic), so from that perspective I feel a little less guilty of adding a tsp.

[Secret Santa]

In all the videos I've seen of TA chefs cooking curries, I don't think I can remember sugar being added (CTM/Korma etc being the exception). 

Is the natural balance of sweetness supposed to be obtained by the skilful caramelisation/Maillard of ingredients (notably the base gravy pre-prep, and the cooking of base gravy in the pan fry)?

That's it exactly. If you find you need to add sugar to a savoury curry it's because you haven't cooked the base properly to bring out the natural sweetness of the onions.

[rshome123]

SecretSanta, thanks for the reply.  When you refer to cooking the base, are you referring to the base gravy preparation or the final dish fry, or both?

[Secret Santa]

Just the cooking of the onions for the base sauce. They have to be boiled for long enough to bring out the natural sweetness. Adding acidic ingredients, like tomatoes, kills this reaction to some extent so some bases never achieve the sweetness or achieve a much reduced sweetness as a consequence.

[Curryking32000]

Sugar is used in a number of other curries also.  About half a chef spoon fall in a patia and about a tablespoon full in a Dansak.

[Stephen Lindsay]

Jerry this is an interesting post and one that got me thinking about other ways of sweetening curries. The coconut in CTM and Korma adds sweetness. That Scottish invention, the Chasni, is a very sweet curry uses tomato ketchup, mango chutney, cream and cream of tomato soup, all of which add sweetness. Indeed it could be the BIR equivalent of the deep fried Mars Bar! The sweet of the sweet and sour Pathia is provided by mango chutney as well as sugar in my recipe. A quick look through my Taz recipes finds sugar in Jalfrezi, Ceylon, Bhuna, Dhansak, Rogan Josh so maybe I am as guilty as others in my use of sugar!

[Onions]

Treacle ever used for sweetening in Indian as it is in chinese?

[fried]

I don't find I need to add sugar as my base is already sweet enough for most standard recipes. I normally use CTs. I recently did JBs base and although this seemed a little less sweet (could've been curried out after an afternoon in the kitchen!) the results were the same.

I add sugar to dansak to balance the pineapple juice and in a couple of thing use mango chutney (more sweet and sour) than to sweeten.

But I make a lot of Thai dishes and green curry without raw brown sugar is unthinkable.

[JerryM]

Thought provoking stuff.

Would these other sweeteners' do the same magic. From what's been said I would list in no order

1) jaggory, sugar, brown sugar
2) Treacle,syrup,honey  
3) Mango chutney, mango, pineapple, coconut, raisin 
4) Tom ketchup
5) cream

I should clarify that my observation of this step improvement comes from side by side comparison of the same base or any base and the same dish frying ie only the 1 variable being changed ie sugar added which improves what you already have so to speak. 

I'm not a fan of sugar for sure and I guess I'll slowly try it out in more dishes (only CTM so far for my own cooking)

One thing I did just come across this weak from BIR was use of fresh coconut in CTM. It really worked well. Real nice sweetness.

At the same time making my conundrum even more difficult - is it just a natural craving for sugar or is something more chemically based going on.

The other fascination being which of these contenders gives the best result or do they all count the same just being a different form of sugar.