What is the point of brown sugar in a Thai Red Curry recipe?!
Answers: Made some Red Curry last night, and the recipe instructs me to add 1-2 tbs brown sugar according to taste. Since I'm not educated in the finer points of cooking, can someone explain to me what's going on with the recipe? It also tells me to vary the amt of paste as well as fish sauce, but I can't get a good grasp of how the 3 variables work together.
The main in Thai food
is...
The hot and spice from the chillies
The sweetness and colour .. from the sugar,
The salt taste and the smell from the fish sauce
The uniques in the recepies is..
1.if the Curry to hot or to salty the brown sugar might balance it.
2. if the Curry have to much of sugar the fish sauce will balance it.
3. So in Thai cooking the brown sugar and the fish sauce is important as well a salt and pepper in other cooking .
It is for sweetness.
It is a question of balance
Sweetness
Bitterness
Saltiness etc
Fish sauce adds the saltiness.
Thai food always has a touch of sweetness and it is important to capture the authentic flavor.