Homemade curry, you will find, is a deceptively simple spice blend to prepare and cook. It is all too easy to overcook the spices or to get the ratios wrong and end up with a bitter-tasting curry. There are some simple tips you can use to offset the bitterness of an overcooked or poorly blended curry. Curries from different nations need to be treated according to the type of dish you are creating.

  • Homemade curry, you will find, is a deceptively simple spice blend to prepare and cook.
  • It is all too easy to overcook the spices or to get the ratios wrong and end up with a bitter-tasting curry.

Taste the curry sauce and determine the level of bitterness as well as the underlying flavours. Highly bitter curries need more of the bitterness-minimising elements.

Add salt and sugar to the curry sauce in equal portions, 1 tsp (6 g) at a time until balance is achieved. Salt brings out the natural sweetness of curry spice and the sugar will help balance the saltiness and bitterness. If after two or three additions, the curry is still bitter, proceed to the next step.

Blend in coconut milk, coconut cream, yoghurt or sour cream, 60 ml (1/4 cup) at a time, tasting after each addition. If after three additions, the curry is still bitter, proceed to the next step.

Add 1/4 tsp (1.5 g) of ground coriander seed or root to the curry sauce and the juice of one lime. Blend this together well and taste it. If the curry is still too bitter, it is likely that the curry blend is too overcooked to be salvaged.