How can I make a Dessert Curry?

December 22, 2009 12:21 PM

I had this idea to make a dessert curry (similar to the idea of a desert pizza) but am not sure if the idea is even possible. My plan so far involves curry spices and a chocolate syrup based curry and perhaps add marshmallows and a substutue for meat or vegtables. Any ideas on how to proceed?
posted by trojanhorse to Food & Drink (25 answers total)

This sounds truly horrible. While there are some really nice sweet things to make with curry powder (e.g., curried nuts with sugar), the idea of making a curry with marshmallows and chocolate is really terrible.

Why not make a nice traditional Indian rice pudding and sprinkle some mild curry powder on top?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 12:30 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

Curry ice cream is pretty ubiquitous right now in New York. Vosges has a curry chocolate bar, and so do several other gourmet chocolatiers. Here's an interesting-looking recipe for chocolate curry cupcakes.

So if you want to make a curry-flavored dessert that looks like a regular savory curry, I'd cover morsels of curry ice cream and curry chocolate cake with a curry-flavored chocolate sauce and skip the marshmallows.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:36 PM on December 22, 2009

I must agree with Admiral Haddock regarding the taste of your proposed dessert curry. Instead of imitating a curry, I think it would be a better idea to let the curry flavours and spices themselves inspire you.

You could marinate pineapple chunks with a small amount of red curry paste and grill them.
posted by lioness at 12:40 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

I would head down the light, creamy, sweet direction. Maybe a coconut-infused custard with a curry base? Like a coconut/curry flan?
posted by Thorzdad at 12:41 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'd base your dessert curry on fruits - pineapple, as lioness mentions, is a good one, as might be citrus, or maybe pear or apple, or cherries - I'd keep the fruit simple, just one fruit, and then add some curry spices, maybe a little minced cilantro or parsley, and see how it goes.
posted by amtho at 12:43 PM on December 22, 2009

Vosges sold sweet curry chocolates for awhile, but ..

Are you going for _mock curry_ or _curry flavored_?
posted by rr at 12:45 PM on December 22, 2009

What type of curry are you contemplating.

Your idea seems to lend itself towards a red or green curry with a coconut cream base. Decrease the curry paste and increase the palm sugar. Serve it chileed over pieces of fruit (mangos, bananas, whatnot) possibly with some sticky rice and you might have a tatsy concoction.

While I think curries go well with chocolates, I think I would avoid the muddying of flavors that would result from curry, chocolate sauce, marshmallows and fruit (or whatever you ise to substitute). I think this might overpower the flavor of the curry and you'd end up with something that was more like a curry-tinged red-neck delight and less like a curry.
posted by Seamus at 12:50 PM on December 22, 2009 [2 favorites]

I want to see this process I inevented called "chileeing". I imagine it is something like sauteeing but over ice instead of flame.

What I meant was "chilled" though my other idea might make for a cool presentation.
posted by Seamus at 12:53 PM on December 22, 2009

Are you going for _mock curry_ or _curry flavored_?

Or both?

This is a good point. "Curry-flavored dessert" is one category; "dessert that looks like a curry" is another category; "curry-flavored dessert that looks like a curry" is the intersection of both categories.

I personally hate all desserts that look like something else, but you're not making it for me so I'll try to be helpful.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:56 PM on December 22, 2009

I had some too-green bananas once and ate them in a curry sauce. Not too bad. But won't keep long.
posted by Listener at 1:03 PM on December 22, 2009

A sweet, mild curry sauce like a korma might work well with fruit (pineapple/mango/raisins) and nuts (cashews/almonds). I'd go for a thicker, sweeter sauce than normal, and serve chilled. Traditional Indian desserts might also serve as inspiration.
posted by Bodd at 1:03 PM on December 22, 2009

Vosges makes a curry chocolate bar which has similar sounding flavors. A friend of mine loves it; I thought it was sicky-savory-rotten-tasting so I think it's a personal thing.
posted by pointystick at 1:04 PM on December 22, 2009

Would a chocolate risotto be a good base for your recipe? That one is already served with fruit; you want spices that will complement the fruit/chocolate combination.

I've made chocolate spice cakes in the past which while not 'curry' flavoured were properly spicey, and lovely too. I think this idea definitely has potential!
posted by Coobeastie at 1:16 PM on December 22, 2009

Response by poster: I guess I'm going for curry flavored if at all possible. If not possible then a mock curry type dessert that looks like a curry would work.

My original idea was to use real curry spices and flavors and have it taste sweet and like chocolate. Obviously I imagine that you wouldn't have meat or vegtables in the curry so you would need to add something to it and I thought that marshmallows would work but as people are pointing out fruit and nuts would likely work better. And maybe I could even serve it with a sweetend rice.

Anymore ideas would be greatly appreciated.
posted by trojanhorse at 1:17 PM on December 22, 2009

Cardamom, cinnamon and ginger are pretty common in curries and all work in sweet dishes. Might be a good place to start.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 1:31 PM on December 22, 2009

What about a curry carrot cake (a yellow curry powder to be more specific with ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, garam masala)? I work in the pastry department at an award-winning fine dining establishment and a few years ago for our tasting desert, we ran a curry carrot cake with curry yogurt sherbet (although the sherbet was more 2:1, cardamom to yellow curry; just having the yellow curry exclusively looked.. sickly). If you're stuck on the marshmallow idea, what about trying ras al hanout? Or cardamom?

Ancho chili compliments a dark bitter chocolate sauce (I'd go for 80%); it’s quite traditional. But the idea of a green curry sounds gross.

If I were to attempt it, maybe you could try making a chocolate ganache (I'd do 2:1; chocolate to cream) with red curry powder and incorporate the chunks into your dough (like chocolate chip cookie dough) along with spices like cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, etc. I’d definitely use brown sugar in the dough. Spread with a yogurt cream cheese (wouldn't mess with coconut flavored spread) and then decorate with chunks of the red curry spiced ganache and ras al hanout, curry, or garam masala flavored marshmallows piped in the shape of kisses?

If you go the route of fruit, possibly some sort of fruit (stay away from berries, rock fruit, and melon; more or less apple or pear?) thinly shaved on a mandolin and poached in a lemon sugar syrup..? I wouldn't do a citrus fruit alone as a topping. And if you poach apple or pear, make sure you add citric acid or vitamin C to avoid discoloring. I wouldn't mess with fresh herbs; you want the subtlety of a powder incorporated into the dough, chocolate, etc.

I don't know. I'm all for savory sweet ideas, but this sounds tricky. One of the most important reasons savory sweet succeeds is its unexpected yet delicious flavoring coupled with perfect execution. I mean, you're already taking kind of a "po-dunk" savory turned sweet item and then throwing in exotic spices to make it savory again..? Be careful.

IMHO, I'd stick with a curry sherbet, truffle, or cake. A dessert pizza just has too much going on.
posted by fiasco at 1:40 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

This dish is standard brunch fare in our family, but it'd make a nice dessert too. I often make it with canned fruit, and it's always a hit:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/hot-curried-fruit-recipe/index.html

In a similar vein, I've also had a chai-spiced chocolate sauce on vanilla ice cream and brownies before--it was lovely. Good luck!

P.S. Sorry for the unlinked link--iPhone won't paste into the URL text box.
posted by sister nunchaku of love and mercy at 1:41 PM on December 22, 2009

I remember there being some dessert curry recipes in the back of this, but I'm far from my copy at the moment so can't check. I've made the watermelon curry from it, which was good, can't remember exactly what the others are.
posted by dickasso at 1:42 PM on December 22, 2009

Upon rereading, there could be a place for coconut in the red curry spiced chocolate and marshmallow version.. Add dried coconut flakes?
posted by fiasco at 1:44 PM on December 22, 2009

Seamus, "chileeing" is a cool term, but someone's already invented the process:

http://www.cuisinetechnology.com/antigriddle.html

(sorry for the aside)
posted by odin53 at 1:50 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

At a recent Iron Cupcake contest the secret ingredient was curry, and there are some astoundingly great results. The winner was like a banana/pumpkin bread with a yellow curry supplemented with pumpkin spice. Simple cream cheese frosting. It was fantastic, I'll ask around and see if I can get the recipe.
posted by Ookseer at 5:11 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

How about a chai flavored rice pudding with coconut milk? Yum.
posted by samsaunt at 6:51 PM on December 22, 2009

ClifBar used to sell a curry nut bar that was mostly cashew nuts, honey and mild curry powder. I thought it was great, although it didn't stay on the market long. Chocolate with this sounds really gross, though and marshmallows don't belong anywhere near curry powder. No way.

How about baklava with cashews instead of pistachios and some curry powder stirred in?

Or rice crispy cereal, cashews, bananas, honey and curry powder? Roll it up in an eggroll wrapper and fry it.

Or, make some kind of tasty filling with curry powder and wrap it up in puff pastry.

On preview, coconut sounds great, too.
posted by zinfandel at 8:02 PM on December 22, 2009

how about Tandoori Scottish Shortbread w. Passion Fruit Curd? This was a hit at a Toronto baking competition recently.
http://foodiemeet.ca/main/?p=209
posted by sevenyearlurk at 8:03 PM on December 22, 2009

Navratan Korma always struck me as pretty damn close to a dessert already. If you substituted appropriately, mission accomplished. Cooking pears, ripe plantain, sweet potato, fennel, etc.
posted by mek at 9:26 PM on December 22, 2009