Cream has a quiet but important job in Indian cooking. Used well, it rounds off heat, carries spice, and turns a sharp tomato sauce into something silky. Used badly, it flattens everything. Here is how the good kitchens handle it.
Balance, not blanket
Cream is a finishing touch, not a base. It goes in towards the end, to soften and enrich rather than to smother. A spoonful over a well-built masala lifts it; a flood of it drowns the spice the cook worked to develop.
The dishes that depend on it
Butter chicken is the obvious one: tomatoes, butter and a little cream, mellow and glossy. A korma (you will see it spelt Korma on our menu) leans on cream, yoghurt and often ground nuts for its richness. Even a dal can take a swirl at the end. Each uses it differently, and none uses it to hide behind.
Cream and heat
There is a reason a cooling element sits beside the spice. Dairy tames chilli, which is why a creamy curry feels gentler than a dry one of the same heat. It is also why raita and a glass of lassi work so well alongside a fiery dish.
Taste the difference
The creamier dishes are some of the most popular on our menu, and a good place to start if you are new to Indian food. Try the Butter Chicken, the Paneer Butter Masala or the Chingri Malai Curry at Charing Cross, and read how the two best-known creamy curries differ in butter chicken vs tikka masala.
Before a show, our Pre-Theatre menu offers butter chicken or tikka masala as the main of the 3 Course Special Meal, served from 12pm to 5.30pm daily. Book a table and taste how a little cream goes a long way.
