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When cooking a curry using meat that has been marinaded in yoghurt tikka masala for instance, I have noticed that it often curdles/splits/gets grainy when cooked. I use 3.5% fat yoghurt, Balkan style - but this tends to happen with any yoghurt. Is there a way to prevent that from happening?

Any advice at all on this subject would be helpful!

Chris H
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soup4life
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    Do you turn off the heat and lower the temperature before adding the yoghurt, then heat gently, or do you just throw it in? – Chris H Aug 09 '18 at 05:53
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    That's probably the answer @ChrisH. – GdD Aug 09 '18 at 07:08
  • @GdD quite possibly but the question is more interesting if they're already trying that and I didn't want to assume anything – Chris H Aug 09 '18 at 07:19
  • True @ChrisH. The recipe would also be good to know, see what acid is being added. – GdD Aug 09 '18 at 07:37
  • This is actually a duplicate @soup4life, there's lots of good answers already. – GdD Aug 09 '18 at 07:39
  • @GdD the other reason I didn't post an answer - I thought it might have come up before but finding dupes is so much easier on the desktop site than on mobile I didn't try while commuting – Chris H Aug 09 '18 at 08:52
  • Oh! I did not find a duplicate, I'll look into it. I have a propane stove, which cooks significantly hotter and faster than natural gas or electric (even on low - it's quite something), so unfortunately "low and slow" is much easier said than done. – soup4life Aug 10 '18 at 00:49
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    The thing is that the chicken is cubed and then marinated in the yoghurt and spices mixture, so aside from straining out the chicken and then rinsing it off to remove yoghurt mixture that's on the chicken, it's difficult to ensure a homogeneously "silky" texture. While tempering in the yoghurt is ideal if there's no large chunks in the pan, it's much more difficult when you've got chunks in it - else I could cook strain the yoghurt, rinse the chicken, and while cooking the chicken cook the yoghurt in a different pan? Still tricky with propane. Starch/flour seems best option. Thanks all! – soup4life Aug 10 '18 at 00:56
  • I've nominated for reopning as the marinading in yoghurt makes it (IMO) sufficiently different from the old question -- and more interesting. Note that to be chicken *tikka* masala the chicken should be marinaded, roasted (and rather hot at that), then added to the sauce. – Chris H Aug 10 '18 at 08:25
  • If you're cooking on bottleed gas etc, you can reduce the heat with a [diffuser](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Metaltex-only-Diffuser-Stainless-Steel/dp/B003LXFGSY) or do what I do when camping and only have one burner: do the frying, then use that pan as a lid while I bring rice back to the boil (this keeps it warm and would be a perfect time to add yoghurt). Then swap back again as required – Chris H Aug 10 '18 at 08:29
  • Ah, I think the recipe I followed was significantly simplified. I will look into a more nuanced recipe that will probably result in a better product. Unfortunately the propane is for my oven! Living out in the country there isn't as much access to natural gas. But thank you for your advice @Chris H! As per your suggestion would the chicken still be marinated in yoghurt? – soup4life Aug 13 '18 at 00:31
  • If you're making a tikka masala, the yoghurt and spice marinade is an important part, so definitely still do that. I've cooked on domestic propane stoves and I've also found the power range per burner to be quite small (hence the suggestion of a diffuser) or do I understand that you only have an oven and no burners on top? – Chris H Aug 13 '18 at 05:45
  • @ChrisH Interesting! It's a new propane stove with cooktop, I find that the burner sizes are a good size, there are plenty of size options which makes using an appropriate pot easy. I'll try the suggestion of cooking it after allowing the pan to cool down a bit. Having switched from natural gas we've really noticed a difference, even with the cast iron which used to take a longer period of time to heat up. – soup4life Aug 15 '18 at 03:28

1 Answers1

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You can use sour cream - tastes the same and won't break.

Misanthrope
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