I added a teaspoon of white wine vinegar and half a glass of white wine whilst reducing. This give the curry a little bit of a tang. I also use fresh herbs as much as possible rather than dried ones. i.e. corriander, ginger, garlic, chillie
I was also going to ask what recipe you were following! Of course vindaloos and some madras curries include vinegar.
Agree about the herbs - I find it often better to use the wrong (but similar) fresh herb than the right dried one.
Winton
<"I find it often better to use the wrong (but similar) fresh herb than the right dried one."
Except the dry methi leaves (Kasoori Methi), which are not strictly herbs but are used as such, to enhance flavour in many curries.
OOOOOOH LA LA LA.........lovely results on what recipe???? ......and where is Debby S. ????
Mamta: why aren't methi leaves strictly herbs? I'd thought that herbs were scented leaves (of certain sorts), whereas spices were seeds (a distinction our American friends don't have in their varietis of English). Thus coriander leaf as a herb, and coriander seeds as a spice.
I'd also say that there's no real substitute for curry leaves, but, yes, they're much better if they're fresh. (I learned from you, Mamta, that they can be frozen, so I have a stash of them in the freezer, brought over from Edinburgh by my brother: they're impossible to find here, in the South of France).
Phil
Phil, methi leaves are more commonly used (in India) as a leaf vegetable, but I guess you could call them a 'herb' when dry. Methi seeds are a spice, used in many dishes. So I guess you are right; it is a vegetable, spice and herb. I hadn't thought about it before!
I have seen them being sold frozen as well. So next time someone is coming from home, may be you could get them to bring a few packets in an ice box and keep them in your freezer! They are very easy to grow from seeds, so try next summer. Sprouted seeds are great in salads.
Interesting question, when does a herb become a vegetable? When it moves from being a 'flavouring' to a certain volume of the ingredients?
From the amount of coriander that get strewn over some dishes I'd have thought it was perilously close to being a vegetable. How about holy basil in Thai cooking, or basil in a western basil and tomato soup?
Winton
Good point Winton, when is it a herb or vegetarble! I guess if you are using it as one of the main ingredients, it is a vegetable, no?
botanically, a herb is any plant with a non-woody stem, so, strangely, bananas are the fruits of a herb. And Bay is a tree, not a herb, a tomato is a fruit and a raspberry is not a berry, but a drupe.
It seems that all this is disregarded in the kitchen, where herbs are usually thought of as leaves of plants.
good point. i love fresh coriander leaves but what i dont understand is how they seem to ascoiated with all spicy food from mexican thai and indian.
i have a question. do chilli peppers and tomatoes contain citric acid???? i know of the obvious citric fruits but i was doing a little reasearch today and i cam across a website that said chilli bell pepper and tomatoes contain citric acid. i know that citric acid is added to tin tomatoes as a preservative.
sid
added to fresh tomatoes ? I wouldn't think so, they just grow them and pick them slightly under ripe for transport. It may be added to some tinned/puree/pasatta etc?
and on the herbs.. what is rosemary and lavander as they both have a woody stem ?
Steve
Tomatoes do indeed have naturally occurring citric (and malic) acid in them. Don't know about chillies though...
sweet peppers have both citric acid and malic acid, so I would think the same is true for chillies.
Steve, I refer you the answer I gave above.
Botanically herbs are plants without woody stems. Cooking-wise, all goes out the window, and practically anything is called anything you like.
Of course rosemary is thought of as a herb in culinary terms, but not botanically. I suppose it depends on whether you have your gardening or chef's hat on at the thyme.
Interestingly, lavender (herb de Provence?) has a chemical which is the mirror image of one of the main ones found in coriander seed, but the two are not related plants! [the substance is called linalool]. The same goes for caraway and spearmint, the substance is carvol.