Never make bland curry again with the help of a surprising ingredient

Spice Up Your Life with Kikkoman

Spicy food and Kikkoman Soy Sauce are a match made in heaven. Soy sauce has long been used as an ingredient in many types of curry recipe from around Asia, especially in dishes that include chilli. Think hot Thai curries, Indonesian rendang, Japanese katsu, fragrant Chinese chicken curries, and so on.

There is a reason for this – the salt in soy sauce underpins the flavour of chilli and other spices. For instance, if you were to use lots of chilli in a dish and leave out any seasoning of soy sauce or salt, the food would taste unbalanced and you would be left with a pointless burning sensation without much taste. Fresh red chilli will taste bright and fruity when seasoned correctly, so soy sauce can make all the difference between a dull dish and a delicious one.

In addition, if you specifically pick a naturally brewed soy sauce such as Kikkoman, the natural presence of the 5th taste sensation umami also works to bring out the flavours too.

When it comes to India, you probably wouldn’t really associate soy sauce with this cuisine but in fact there is a large indigenous Chinese population – mostly immigrants from Hakka who arrived in India a few hundred years ago. So, soy sauce can be found in Indo-Chinese recipes, especially street food such as fried chicken wings.

With Kikkoman, you only need one soy sauce

There are big differences in the types of soy sauce as you travel across Asia.

All are essentially made with fermented soybeans, wheat and salt, but the sauces vary a lot in taste.

Japanese soy sauces (or shoyu) like Kikkoman are full-bodied, sweeter and less salty. So, Kikkoman is an ideal, all-purpose substitute for other types of soy sauce in other recipes.

The secret to a good curry

As well as getting the seasoning right, the other tricks to making a curry great are:

• If you have gone a bit overboard with the chilli, add dairy – plain yoghurt, milk and even cheese will help dull the burn
• Always toast whole spices first in a dry pan – this will release the natural oils and aromas. Leave whole and remove before serving or grind them with a pestle and mortar
• Add fresh soft herbs such as coriander or mint at the end of cooking for maximum flavour
• Make sure you replenish your dried spices often – they can quickly lose their pungency
• Ensure that you cook out spices for long enough otherwise they can taste raw and bitter

Kikkoman curry recipes

Curry favour with your family by cooking up one of these spicy recipes, or simply try adding a splash of Kikkoman to your favourite curry recipe next time.