The Acidity Test For Tomato Purees Used in Rich Indian Gravies

You can easily mistake a curry to be perfectly alright in appearance, and then suddenly you discover that there's that sharp sourness in taste. You even ask yourself why that happened, considering that you've been cooking this sauce for some time and it never was supposed to be like that. In some cases, there is nothing wrong with your recipe. Tomato paste might have a greater effect on the final taste of the meal. When choosing your tomato paste via a shopping app, better take a minute to check what you're actually buying.

Taste The Puree First

 This sounds almost too obvious, but most people don’t bother. Open the puree, take a tiny spoonful and taste it. It doesn’t have to taste amazing on its own, obviously, but you’ll get a pretty good idea of how sharp it is. If it’s mildly tangy, fine. If it makes you wince, use less of it than the recipe suggests. There’s no rule saying the entire pack has to go in just because the recipe says so.

 Read The Back Of The Pack

 Before deciding that you somehow messed up the curry, turn the pack around. Have a look at the ingredients list. Citric acid and acidity regulators are things you may come across in tomato products. Their presence doesn’t automatically mean there’s anything wrong with the puree. They’re used for reasons such as controlling acidity and helping with preservation. Still, knowing they’re there gives you some context if the puree tastes much sharper than the tomatoes you normally cook with.

 Let It Cook For A While

This is probably where many rushed gravies go wrong. The puree goes into the pan and, five minutes later, everything else follows because everyone is hungry. Give the tomato some time.

 Cook it over medium heat and stir it periodically. That raw, sharp tomato fragrance starts fading and the mixture becomes thicker. You might also see a little oil appearing around the edges. That’s a much better point to judge the flavour. And yes, taste it. You’re cooking it, so there’s no reason not to.

 Go Easy When Fixing Sourness

 However, if there is a trace of tang in your gravy, you should not attempt to cover it up using anything randomly. The idea could be to use a little sugar to take away the sour taste. Adding sugar slowly is advisable since once the gravy becomes too sweet, it may be difficult to restore its taste to your liking. You could also add some butter or cream to make it more rich.

 More Masala Won’t Always Save It

 When something tastes bland or wrong, adding more spices feels like the obvious answer. But sourness is different. If the tomato is overpowering the gravy, adding another spoonful of garam masala doesn’t make the tomato flavour disappear. You just end up with a spicy, sour curry. Sort out the tomato flavour first. Then taste again. You’ll have a much clearer idea of whether the curry actually needs more chilli, salt or garam masala.

Choose The Puree For The Way You Cook

Different households cook tomato-based gravies differently. Some use fresh tomatoes, some use homemade puree and some prefer a packaged version because it saves time. There’s nothing wrong with any of those options. The main thing is finding one that suits well in the recipes you make regularly.

 When buying groceries, check the ingredients and, if you’ve used that particular puree before, think about how the last curry turned out. That little bit of memory is often more useful than whatever picture is printed on the packaging.

 Don’t Panic Over One Sour Curry

 Everyone has made one. You taste the gravy, realise something has gone horribly tangy and spend the next ten minutes trying to rescue it. It happens.

 Next time, taste the puree before cooking with it. Use a little less if it’s very sharp, cook it properly and adjust the gravy gradually. A shopping app can make it easier to compare different options when you’re buying groceries, but the final test is still what happens in your own kitchen.