Fenugreek

• When you want to overcome excessive sweetness in curry with bitter, sour or spicy ingredients, add them to taste and sparingly, or you'll exacerbate the problem. Fenugreek is a common curry ingredient, and has an aromatic bitterness that, when used judiciously, brings a sweet curry back to harmony. To balance with bitterness, add 1/4 teaspoon of crushed fenugreek seeds per cup of curry. Let the fenugreek simmer in the curry for 2 to 3 minutes, and then taste and adjust slightly if necessary.

Chili Flakes

• Red chili flakes bring a lot of heat for their size, and add a pleasant spiciness when you use them sparingly. Add 1/4 teaspoon of red chili flakes per cup of curry, and then simmer for 2 to 3 minutes to extract the spiciness. Taste the curry and adjust with more chili flakes and, if necessary, fenugreek.

Acids

• Acids, such as lime juice, are the yin to sugar's yang. Squeeze juice from one-quarter of a lime into the curry and stir. Taste to see where the tartness put the sweetness, and add more if needed. A touch of chili flakes along with the lime might be what the curry needs to offset the sweetness.