Why did my thai curry have a bitter aftertaste?

Why did my thai curry have a bitter aftertaste? - White Powder on Green Plant

I'm on the low fodmap diet so i tried making my own thai curry paste (without shallots or garlic). Here are the ingredients that i used:

  • 1/4 cup coriander leaves, stems and roots
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 large stalk lemon grass
  • 6 red chillies
  • 1.5 tbsp ginger
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 spring onions
  • 3 tsp garlic infused sesame oil
  • 1 tsp lime juice

I'm guessing it's either the lemon grass or the lime juice which made it bitter

currythai-cuisine


Best Answer

Disclaimer: I have no experience with low FODMAP diets. But it seems quite a challenge to make a Thai curry without garlic or shallots in any case!

In Thai cooking, you typically want to have very strong flavours, and a balance of the basic flavours: bitter, sweet, salt, sour, and umami. So perhaps your problem isn't so much having a strong bitter taste (which isn't appreciated as much in western cuisine as it is in Thai cuisine), as a relative lack of the other basic tastes?

I would suggest that you may be missing out especially on salt and umami, because you haven't used any fermented fish sauce (which is typically very salty) for seasoning, nor fermented shrimp paste ("gapi", which is very umami) in the curry paste. One teaspoon of salt is not very much; in commercial curry pastes you may find as much as 25% salt.

Other things that come to mind (which may or may not be relevant to your issue):

  • Don't use lime juice in the curry paste; but do use a bit of lime zest. It's fine to use lime juice for seasoning while cooking the curry, though. I typically use a bit more than one teaspoon, perhaps two or three. But it all depends on the balance of the dish: as a rule of thumb, add (palm) sugar for sweetness, fish sauce for saltiness, and lime juice for sourness, until you can taste all basic tastes, without any one overwhelming the others.

  • Don't include the coriander leaves and top part of the stems in the curry paste, only the roots and lower part (about an inch) of the stems. You can use the leaves to garnish the dish.

  • Don't use spring onions in the paste, as they make a poor substitute for shallots; they're also better used for garnishing the dish.

  • Use galangal instead of ginger, if you can find it (if I can't get fresh galangal, I won't even bother trying to make my own curry paste).

Hope this helps!



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Quick Answer about "Why did my thai curry have a bitter aftertaste?"

Your curry can taste bitter if the spices and garlic are burnt or if you've added too much fenugreek to the dish. You see, the secret to cooking a delicious curry recipe is to create a spicy paste and slowly cook it before adding your meat.


How to Reduce Bitter Taste - 9 Ways to Reduce Bitter Taste in Any Food - Fitness and Nutrition Guide



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Images: Nataliya Vaitkevich, Mareefe, Cats Coming, Mareefe

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