Curry sauce

Cafe Society
1

I have bought 4 jars of “Luxury Curry Sauce”:

Korma
Madras
Rogan josh
Tikka masala

I’ve started out just using each of them with simple chicken and rice, and to my uneducated palette they taste pretty much the same. So what’s the difference? I know they are used in different dishes, and I can easily find recipe online . . . but what is the difference between the actual taste of the sauces?

2

They should at least look different!
(British-style) Korma is light brown, creamy and mild. Coconut and other nut flavours should be evident.
Tikka Masala sauce is a bit of a misnomer, because the “tikka” part refers to how the meat is cooked. But it’s less creamy than Korma, not as mild, and redder, due to the tomatoes.
Madras is hotter, lots of chili, reddish in colour. Your classic curry sauce.
Rogan Josh is usually Lamb Rogan Josh here. But I couldn’t honestly say that is dramatically different from Madras, so wide are the definitions in British curry houses.

3

They taste utterly different.

I can only imagine that the brand you’ve purchased is… sub-adequate. If you can’t distinguish between coconut and tomato, and spicy/not spicy then I’d suggest there’s something very wrong with the jars you bought. Coconuts and tomoatoes taste very different to each other, however you cook them!

A korma is coconut, mild, and very creamy. Not spicy at all.

A rogan josh is tomato and fairly spicy.

A madras is fairly spicy, with chili. Hurts my tongue, at least. Not so much that I go “oooh! that’s too hot!” but enough that I notice.

4

Ok, I just did a side-by-side taste test, and yes, there are obvious differences. I like Korma the best, followed by Tikka Masala. Madras and Rogan Josh are too strong for my taste, and both leave an unpleasant after-taste. I might try them cut with a little tomato sauce.

5

I’d suggest adding a little yogurt to the curry you find too hot, instead of tomato sauce.

6

Thanks, that does sound better.

7

mmmmmmm curry :slight_smile:

8

Or serve it up as a side dish. Also, make sure you have plenty of rice and not too much curry. Madras is delicious, but it takes practice. :slight_smile: