Why add yogurt to curries spoon by spoon instead of all at once?
A few recipes I have might use 5 or 6 tablespoons of yogurt but want it fully mixed spoon by spoon and cooked for 30s before adding the next spoon.
Can't I just dump the lot in and mix well?
Edit: The recipes tend to share the same order: cook spices, add onion & garlic, add browned meat, mix in yogurt, add water, simmer for an hour or more. So it's quite a dry mix when the yogurt is added.
Best Answer
Yogurt curdles at high temperatures. If you curdle a big lump of yogurt, breaking it up well is hard, and it doesn't taste too well. You want to end up with tiny particles evenly dispersed in the dish. So when you add it a spoon at a time, you can mix it really well before it has had time to curdle.
An alternative method is to do it the other way round. You remove a spoonfull of the curry and dump it into the yogurt, then stir immediately. When it is completely absorbed, you add the next spoon. You continue until you have something like a 1:1 mix in the bowl, then dump it into the still cooking curry and stir.
The second method requires less than 30 s between spoons, but isn't necessarily less work. (You may have to prepare a separate bowl for the yogurt). However, it produces even smoother results. If you have a problematic yogurt (low fat content, high clumping tendency), use the second method.
Edit HenrikSöderlund's comment makes me think that my explanation wasn't clear enough, so here an addition.
The yogurt will curdle a few seconds after it is dumped in the pot. The point is, you don't lumps of curdled yogurt. A lump of curdled yogurt is grainy and sour and doesn't mix well with liquid. Encountering a lump of curdled yogurt in your soup/curry unpleasant in a way similar to encountering a lump of undissolved baking powder in your cake.
On the other hand, A tiny droplet of curdled yogurt is too small to feel as grainy, too small an amount of acid to give you an unpleasant sensation, and small enough to form a suspension with the "broth". That's why you have to break up the yogurt in droplets before it curdles, and this is only physically possible when you start out with a small amount like a single spoon.
It is even more important to do that when adding to the dry-ish mixture described in the edit than when adding to a simmering broth. The broth is below 100°C, the curry base can be much hotter, causing the yogurt to curdle quicker. Also, a liquid will dissolve the yogurt easily and disperse it, but with the dry curry base, you have to rely on stirring only to reduce the yogurt to droplets.
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Quick Answer about "Why add yogurt to curries spoon by spoon instead of all at once?"
Yogurt curdles at high temperatures. If you curdle a big lump of yogurt, breaking it up well is hard, and it doesn't taste too well. You want to end up with tiny particles evenly dispersed in the dish. So when you add it a spoon at a time, you can mix it really well before it has had time to curdle.How do you add yogurt to curry without splitting it?
First, always cook with room-temperature yogurt. Letting it rise in temperature before you add it to a hot chickpea stew, say, will lessen the chances of it curdling. You can also increase yogurt's stability with flour or cornstarch -- stir in a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon per cup of yogurt before you add it to a dish.What happens when you add yogurt to curry?
A quick saute of spices awaken flavor, taking curry to whole new level. After sauting the spices, the star ingredient - yogurt is added. Mostly, yogurt is hung or allowed to drain while masala cooks. This removes water content from yogurt leaving behind thick and creamy, whey like yogurt.Will yoghurt split in curry?
Yes, all yoghurts curdle when boiled. But don\xb9t let that stop you adding it to your curry. There are several ways suggested by Indian cooks to stop the curdling effect. The most popular of which is to add an egg yolk to the yoghurt, another is to add arrowroot.Does yogurt thicken curry?
A thick yogurt, like Greek yogurt, works best. Simply add a small amount of yogurt, like a spoonful, at a time. Stir your yogurt into the curry and keep adding a little more at a time until it reaches your desired thickness. This is great for Indian-style curries as a cream substitute.DIY Spoon (using yoghurt pot lid) - Lifehack
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Answer 2
There are two key considerations at play, slurry and concentration of flavor.
Adding spoon by spoon while mixing allows you to more smoothly integrate the curry powder and avoid clumping. Also, if you are unsure how much of the curry powder you will want (e.g. in a new recipe, a new brand of curry, etc), you will want to gradually temper it down as once you have added too much yogurt, you will have to add more curry and so on.
Adding the process of cooking it will further the distribution of the flavor and allow the mixture to create a smoother mixture (think of how it is easier to dissolve sugar in hot liquids as opposed to cold). I do not know if I would necessarily bother with that step, but it may be useful.
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