How to Cool Down a Curry thats “Too Hot!”
The spice in a curry or other hot meal comes from the chilli used, and is caused by a crystalline alkaloid called capsaicin, which is found in chilli peppers. As a rule of thumb, remember the smaller the chilli, the hotter it will be.
There is nothing worse than serving up a curry that is going to burn the digestive systems of our friends, most of us like hot spicy food, but too hot is not a great look. There is nothing worse than guests trying to be polite as sweat streams down their faces! Probably they will be cursing you the next morning as well as they may have a bad case of “Ghandi’s Revenge”
In this article we look at ways to cool down a curry that is just a tad to spicy.
Curry not yet served up
- One of the easiest methods to cool down a curry thats just too hot is to add coconut milk.
- Add fresh lemon or lime juice. This will help to reduce some of the hotness because the citric acid will counteract some of the alkalinity of the capsaicin.
Curry already served
- Drink milk with the spicy meal or serve savoury yoghurt such as a cooling mint Raita, with cucumber and a little diced onion
- Banana and coconut are two further foods to serve as accompaniments to curry which are known to help make a fiery curry more palatable.
These methods can be used to turn a Curry thats a bit too hot into something edible, if however your curry is even hotter than that the only other solution would be to create another sauce altogether. And this time go easy on the chilli!
