Nutritional value and total quality of sour curry powder, the most popular southern Thailand dish

As cross-cultural interactions continuously transform global dietary habits, the traditional Japanese rice seasoning (furikake) offers an innovative blueprint for Thai food product development. Inspired by this concept, a novel instant Thai sour curry rice topping was formulated. This product successfully integrates a high-protein nutritional profile with superior consumer palatability and extended storage stability. Key ingredients for Southern Thai sour curry paste including hot chili (Capsicum frutescens L.) shallot (Allium ascalonicum L.), garlic bulb (Allium sativum L.), lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf), and salt were blended, mixed with pre-cooked fish meat and souring agents tamarind pulp (Tamarindus indica L.) and dried cowa leaves (dried Garcinia cowa Roxb. ex Choisy leaves), stir-fried, and subsequently dried to yield the instant product. Results revealed that the combination of tamarind pulp and dried G. cowa Roxb leaves as a souring agent achieved the highest sensory acceptability (92%) and demonstrated high antioxidant activity. Nutritional analysis reveals that the final dehydrated product is rich in protein, yielding 39.45 ± 0.24%, while unsaturated fatty acids constitute a substantial portion (5.59 ± 0.05%) of the total lipid content (9.62 ± 0.08%). Furthermore, the sequential thermal treatment of stir-frying followed by hot air oven drying effectively minimized the microbial count, successfully complying with the safety standards established by the Thai FDA.