What is that "something-something" that homemade curries are missing?

July 23, 2019 8:53 AM

My DH and I LOVE curry. My fave is yellow with potato, carrot, onion, and tofu. He loves red and green with squash and some veg. We have tried making it at home and, although we sometimes come close to restaurant quality, there is always that "something-something" missing in the flavor. Dear reader, can you tell us what is missing and point us to some authentic recipes? Thank you. VERY much!
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat to Food & Drink (36 answers total)

Could it be salt? I remember making penang curries that just seemed not quite as good as they ought to be, and finally figured out that adding more salt really improved the flavor.
posted by smcameron at 9:00 AM on July 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

What kind of curries are you referring to? Do you mean Thai curry using canned paste? Do you mean Indian/Pakistani curry using curry powder?

In any case, try adding some of the actual flavors and spices that these pastes and powders include. Like, for Thai food maybe add Thai basil. For the Indian/Pakistani curries, add extra chili powder or turmeric.
posted by cacao at 9:00 AM on July 23, 2019 [8 favorites]

I think I know what you mean about something missing - and this is by far the best curry recipe I've ever tried at home. It tastes just as good as anything from a curry house in the UK but I'm not sure how authentic it is compared to a curry in India. https://www.you.co.uk/bosh-curry-house-jalfrezi/
posted by hazyjane at 9:01 AM on July 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

Hard to tell what's missing without knowing what you are doing, but the keys for me if you are using a premade curry paste are frying the paste or powder a bit with nothing else but a little oil to bring out the best notes, and making sure I use a bit of fish sauce in the curry. As mentioned by smcameron, salt matters a lot.
posted by advicepig at 9:03 AM on July 23, 2019 [22 favorites]

This recipe for saag paneer from Sanjana Feasts is at least as good as restaurant, if not better. so. good.
posted by carrioncomfort at 9:04 AM on July 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

I don't have any authentic recipes but if you are referring to Thai curries, our local restaurant uses a ton of brown sugar in their version of your favorite dish and when I've tried to replicate at home that's what helps the most. And fish sauce. Also, if you are not using full-fat coconut milk, that makes a difference, too.
posted by stellaluna at 9:05 AM on July 23, 2019 [18 favorites]

I’ve never been able to make mine quite as good as my favorite restaurants’, but in my experience fish sauce and brown sugar can make a big difference. Haha on preview, stellaluna nailed it!
posted by lovableiago at 9:05 AM on July 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

nth-ing fish sauce. here's a good recipe I've used in the past.
posted by mustardayonnaise at 9:07 AM on July 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

Not sure if your something-something and my something-something are the same, but my own experience with approximating the flavors by experimentation led to the conclusion that it was asafoetida. Western recipes for curry powder rarely include that ingredient, but it imparts a very distinct flavor.
posted by bricoleur at 9:07 AM on July 23, 2019 [9 favorites]

Saturated fat and salt— that’s what restaurants have more of than what you’re making at home.

Coconut fat, ghee, butter, lard and other rendered meat fats if you roll that way. All of these will step up any curry, use 50/50 sodium and potassium salt blend or even all potassium salt if you’re watching your sodium.
posted by SaltySalticid at 9:08 AM on July 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

Based on the 'yellow/red/green' thing I'm assuming you're using jarred sauces? As a step between jarred and homemade, you can jazz up the jarred stuff by frying some whole spices in a little oil and then adding the premade sauce to the pan. Mustard seed, cumin, black or green cardamom, a little piece of cinnamon, and coriander are all good ones to try, either alone in in combinations. Don't remove the whole spices while cooking - just eat around them.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:11 AM on July 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: We are looking for a good Thai curry made from scratch.
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat at 9:12 AM on July 23, 2019

Try any of the recipes here.

A homemade red curry paste includes several ingredients that might be a challenge to find (I've been able to get fresh galangal at my food co-op and I can get kaffir lime leaves at the Asian grocer though fresh kaffir limes are rare, but cilantro root continues to elude me).
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:16 AM on July 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Get the pok pok cook book, they make everything from scratch

You’re missing fresh ingredients and likely a good shrimp paste.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:18 AM on July 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

cilantro root continues to elude me

You might already know this, but look for 'coriander root' instead (same thing).
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:18 AM on July 23, 2019

We are looking for a good Thai curry made from scratch.

Are you making your own curry paste in a mortar and pestle and/or food processor? Or using a premade paste? Making it fresh makes a big difference.

Nthing good fish sauce and 2nding the kaffir lime leaves, though Kakrut is a better word to use for them. And shrimp paste.
posted by Candleman at 9:20 AM on July 23, 2019 [6 favorites]

+n fish sauce. Regionality and quality is a factor here, too ... like you can't just swap patis for thai, it doesn't taste right.

Also the sauté the spices to bloom them thing. Process means alot. I'm vaguely recalling a food travel-log, maybe Andrew Zimmern, where he goes to a thai house and you get to watch the curry paste being fixed from scratch. If I can dig out a link I'll post it.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 9:23 AM on July 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

generally two things. garam masala which I suggest just buying and tons of ginger garlic paste, which I suggest making tons of and then freezing in ice cube trays.
posted by evilmonk at 9:45 AM on July 23, 2019

Can you help us understand what youre doing now so we can maybe identify what is missing?

If youre already using fish sauce and full fat coconut milk, my suggestion would be to upgrade the brands of those products (or if you wanted to get really next level make your own coconut milk/cream from whole coconuts). Reading on fancy fish sauces. Also if you are making your own spice blends theres a good chance youre using different spices than the restaurants would - I dont think ive ever seen thai white cardomom for sale in the US.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:53 AM on July 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Thai basil! You might be able to find it in an Asian markets. As a lark, we grew our own this year and it took off like gangbusters. It provides that sort-of-anise flavor that we find in the restaurant Thai curries.
posted by jquinby at 9:53 AM on July 23, 2019

Adding fish sauce, brown sugar and lime juice transformed my homemade Thai curries and really gives them depth of flavor.
posted by thebots at 9:57 AM on July 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

A little fresh lemongrass and galangal goes a long way to waking up a canned Thai paste. So does Makrut lime leaf. A squeeze of fresh lime juice when serving, too.
posted by Nelson at 10:23 AM on July 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

fat, probably. What kind of coconut milk are you using? Share your recipe and folks here will be able to guide.
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:35 AM on July 23, 2019

I’ve found that “cracking” the coconut cream makes a huge difference.
posted by Paper rabies at 10:36 AM on July 23, 2019 [5 favorites]

Have you looked at Andy Ricker's books?
Or Night + Market? The latter is one of my favorite cookbooks.
posted by mumimor at 10:44 AM on July 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Thai cuisine ideally has a balance of 4 flavors + heat: salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and spicy. I first read about this in a cookbook from the library, but a cursory search just now brought up several blogs talking about this concept. So in addition to the excellent advice in this thread, I'd suggest trying to achieve that balance with mixes of ingredients in your various curries.
posted by acridrabbit at 11:38 AM on July 23, 2019

nthing fish sauce
posted by terrapin at 11:47 AM on July 23, 2019

One of my favorite youtube cooking channels is Pailin's Kitchen/Hot Thai Kitchen, where you will find multiple videos on making the pastes themselves as well as popular curry dishes. She's Thai living in Canada, so she provides excellent advice on dealing with lack of access to certain extremely Thai ingredients as well as where to order the really critical ones when possible.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:52 AM on July 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Nthing fish sauce, again. Has that background umami punch that you really feel when it's missing.
posted by ClaireBear at 12:34 PM on July 23, 2019

Chaokoh coconut milk is what many of the restaurants here rely on. Lowfat or lite coconut milk is woefully inadequate.
posted by Andrew Galarneau at 12:37 PM on July 23, 2019

Even for Thai curries made with spice paste from a can, I find Chaokoh coconut milk essential. The other brands available at markets around me just don't cut it.
posted by XMLicious at 1:22 PM on July 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you for all of the ideas! We Will give them a try.
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat at 1:27 PM on July 23, 2019

As mentioned by Paper rabies(!), cracking the coconut cream is a big part of it.

Even better, use fresh coconut (although I've found using rehydrated dessicated coconut good, as well)
posted by Kiwi at 5:36 AM on July 24, 2019

Balance (as mentioned by acridrabbit above) is super important, once you've got the basic recipe down. If you're starting from scratch, you need to taste the final paste and adjust for the strength of ingredients. Every batch of chili, lemongrass, galangal, lime juice, etc is going to be slightly different, as are different fish sauces. This will take time and experience before you can map changes in the raw paste to the finished product. I recommend taking notes of your raw paste taste test, then again of the finished product. Rank each of the key flavours on a scale that makes sense to you, along with any major ingredient flavours that stick out at any stage. After a few repetitions and trial and error, you'll get an idea of where you need to be at the raw stage to get a cooked product you like.
posted by Jobst at 7:43 AM on July 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I use a premade paste (Maesri is a good brand. Don't use a non-Thai brand.) Fry the paste, then add kaffir lime leaves and fish sauce (use a good Thai brand--I like Golden Boy) and palm sugar. Experiment to get the flavor balance correct.

If you really want to do curry from scratch and can get all the ingredients, probably the most thoroughEnglish-language cookbook on the is Thai Food by David Thompson.

Thai cook Kasma Loha-unchit gives useful recipes, tips, and brand recommendations on her website.
posted by mkuhnell at 12:23 PM on July 24, 2019

What an Indian friend taught me: "the secret to Indian cooking is to toast the spices. Add the garlic and ginger to the oil, then add spices and toast for a minute, then the rest of the ingredients"

If you are referring to Thai curries, well, you have toast those too. Also, restaurants tend to add sugar to their spices. It balances out the heat.
posted by Neekee at 12:21 PM on July 25, 2019 [1 favorite]