[Fnoord]

Did she attempt to dose cardamom? Did she use Thai basil? I'm not sure about the former in Thai cuisine, but the latter is highly recommended.

As for ketchup, it simply isn't spicy enough for my taste. Which makes it "boring". There's a Dutch variant called "curry" which contains spices and umami, but more sugar and less tomatoes.

Mayonnaise I desire with lemon, too (Belgian style). I like to make my own garlic sauce (Belgian mayonnaise, yogurt, cube-sliced garlic). Don't make it _too_ runny (too much yogurt). My fav sauce is green pepper sauce. It is similar to the garlic sauce as base, but with freshly grinded green pepper. I'll try a black pepper variant another time.

[Confusion]

Yes, we learned the difference between Thai basil and regular basil in Thailand, which was before she started attempting to make her own curry :).

I'm not sure if there's cardamom in the curry, but it's definitely in the cupboard (both powdered and whole cardamom pods), so if it should be there, I expect it is.

[twic]

Have you tried brown sauce?

http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/brownsauce.htm

[Fnoord]

Yes, I have! You may regard it as similar, but not quite the same. The thing with "curry" (Dutch one ie. the sauce, not the -real- Asian one) is that different brands are not quite the same. If you focus on it, you'll notice.

I also find that the older I become, the less desire I have for sugar. I dislike if things are too sweet for my taste. Hence I no longer prefer (Dutch) curry as sauce, and also a reason why I love yogurt with mayonnaise as a simple basis for sauces. In that sense, German cream and German mayonnaise is also lovely as it contains far less sugar but has the same mouth feeling. In apfelstrudel mit Sahne, the cream compliments the sweet pastry.