BIR owner mentions the sweetness is from .....................

[Derek Dansak]

After ordering a large takeaway from my regular last friday i drilled him on how to improve my dansaks. specifically how to get that sweetness we all crave. It is hard to understand him at times, but he said he used 'soak' or 'sote' or something very similar sounding to that. It left me very puzzeled, as i could only just understand him. He mentioned it is very very sweet and used in dansaks. I certainly have never seen this in my local indian food supplier. Any ideas on what this could be? I am still unsure if its a spice or a vegitqable or even him just kidding me! I will press him for further details next visit, and might even ask him to order me in a batch. I will post any updates asap. 

[joshallen2k]

"Soak" the lentils maybe?

[haldi]

but he said he used 'soak' or 'sote' or something very similar sounding to that

I reckon that could be "salt"
I don't understand the science, but up to a point, salt brings out the sweetness in cooked onions

[JerryM]

was going to post in the missing secret ingredient but this seems more relevant.

i made 3 batches of the same curry sauces from ivangough's AIR base last night. the spice mix & technique being same. the 2nd curry tasted much sweeter than the other 2 and i thought for the 1st time getting near the BIR taste.

i could not understand why the difference. as the bowl emptied 2 whole cardamoms had been carried forward in the base. they had by chance both ended up together in 1 batch.

i don't believe for 1 minute that BIR's fry their curries with cardamom in and then fish them out so there is still something missing. i am convinced that is was the hot frying that transferred the sweetness from the pods into the sauce without the cardamom taste overpowering the rest.

[Nessa]

Hi Derek,

maybe he was saying 'saunf' - which means fennel seeds.

[Sverige]

Sorry to drag up such an old thread, but I've been trawling through some old stuff recently as it seems there's a lot more to learn from some of the old threads than some of our more recent contributions.

Can anyone solve the decade old mystery of what "sote" might be?  If it's "very very sweet" and added to dhansaks then surely it must be jaggery or white sugar? But do either of those have an Indian or Punjabi name which resembles "sote"?

[Peripatetic Phil]

Any reason to discount Nessa's suggestion of saunf (fennel) ?  Seems very reasonable to me ...

[Secret Santa]

I'd second it being saunf purely on the basis that, despite racking my brains, nothing else seems to fit. But while saunf certainly would add some sweetness, the amount needed to be added to actually affect the sweetness noticeably would impart quite an aniseedy flavour to the dish. Not a flavour I associate with dhansaks of old but maybe the new style has incorporated it ... or maybe it's just a regional thing. Or I suppose it could be dried ginger which is sont or saunth, which sounds closer to "sote" but I wouldn't expect any sweetening effect from it.

I'd be willing to bet though that, as you mention, 99% of dhansaks are made with jaggery and/or white sugar so maybe it was just a misunderstanding.

[chewytikka]

Bit of a vague old thread, but the gist of it was the OP liked a sweet Dhansak
Which in reality should not be too sweet

The sweet element of a Dhansak is Shakkar and Pineapple
The OP should have sussed that by now, if he still tries to cook BIR.

[Sverige]

So shakkar is another (Bengali?) name for jaggery? Then that's case closed.

I feel like getting back on the trail of cooking a good dhansak. Never did get it to taste right in the past.