Too tomatoey gravy?
I saw this video. He is cooking Paneer Tikka Masala. He used 6-7 tomatoes to make gravy for the curry. My question is that, when I cook and add so many tomatoes its taste is too tomatoey. Am I missing something?
Paneer Tikka Masala Restaurant Style | पनीर टिक्का मसाला | Chef Sanjyot Keer
Also I'm making paneer Tikka masala which needs to spicy. Is adding sugar to neutralize the taste of the tomatos good? (I've read somewhere adding sugar can neutralize the sour taste in the gravy) Is it the right approach?
Tell me in depth how can I deal with this situation. Almost every time I cook I face this.
Best Answer
The video recipe uses a lot of tomatoes, and the resulting curry appears to be heavily tomato-flavored. The quick paneer butter masala I make myself is very tomato-flavored, on purpose, because my sweetie likes it that way.
So if you want a paneer curry that's "less tomatoey", my suggestion is to use a different recipe, one with fewer tomatoes in it, and more onions and peppers. Adding sugar won't help, unless the specific flavor you're trying to change is the acidity.
Pictures about "Too tomatoey gravy?"
Quick Answer about "Too tomatoey gravy?"
Fix a Tomatoey Curry with Sugar The last method of reducing the acidity and tartness of too much tomato in a sauce is to try and neutralize it either by adding baking soda or sugar. While neither of these methods will fix an overly tomatoey curry, it might help bring some of the tartness down.How do you stop tomato taste in gravy?
Heat 1 cup of sauce with 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (baking soda neutralizes acidity). Taste the sauce and add tiny amounts of baking soda to see if it mellows the acidity. If there is still an edge, swirl in a teaspoon of butter, letting it melt until creamy. Usually this does the job.How do you neutralize tomato taste?
Great tomato flavor is all about balancing acidity and sweetness. Too much of either can leave you with asauce that tastes one-dimensional. Many sources recommend adding a pinch of baking soda to a sauce that's overly tart, which raises the pH and makes it less acidic. We've always preferred adding a bit of sugar.How to Decrease Acid in Pasta Sauce : Understanding Taste for Better Cooking
More answers regarding too tomatoey gravy?
Answer 2
You probably use different kind of tomatoes; his looks small and relatively "dry".
Sugar can help remove/reduce the acidity in tomato sauces; but that's just it, it won't change the "tomatoey" of the sauce.
Make sure you cook the tomato mixture for a while to reduce the liquid so that the resulting sauce is not too liquid and that every ingredients are well cooked before blending.
Answer 3
Tomatoes being too tart can sometimes be remedied by introducing a different kind of acid that takes precedence on the palate.
A teaspoon of cane vinegar, or white wine vinegar, or sometimes even cider vinegar can "replace" the acidic taste that you get from the tomatoes. You're also going to need some good salt to make it all come together.
What can sometimes happen, practically speaking, is you taste a hint of the vinegar along with the savory parts of the tomato, but don't taste the acrid acidity that some kinds of tomatoes have. That taste is still there, you've just replaced it with something milder, so it's not noticeable anymore.
I've used this trick with a bunch of different canned tomatoes that I bought while living in various places in S.E. Asia (it was hard to get good fresh or even canned tomatoes in some places) and it works ... 85 - 90% of the time.
You may (as others have pointed out) also find some luck with a little sugar. If you don't want to put refined sugar in your dish (which is a perfectly normal thing to not want to do) you can finely grate some carrot on a microplane and let it cook in.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Malidate Van, Shamia Casiano, Terje Sollie, Craig Adderley