Is Coconut Korma Indian Simmer Sauce Coconut Cream & Cardamom Keto?

The Ingredient Breakdown

As a food scientist, I look past the marketing claims and straight at the formulation. This sauce relies on a base of water and coconut cream, which is a great start. Coconut cream is high in healthy fats and naturally low in carbohydrates, making it an excellent keto foundation. However, the formula quickly diverges from a low-carb profile.

The first major red flag is evaporated cane sugar. This is not a hidden sugar; it is a primary ingredient added to balance the acidity of the tomato paste and the heat of the serrano chili. Even a small amount of added sugar can contain enough glucose to halt ketone production.

The second issue is organic tapioca starch. Tapioca is a pure starch derived from the cassava root. In food science, starches are used as thickeners to give sauces a glossy, viscous mouthfeel. Biologically, the body breaks starches down rapidly into glucose. On a keto diet, this acts almost identically to pure sugar, spiking blood glucose levels and kicking you out of ketosis.

Nutritional Value

When evaluating this sauce for keto, the macro breakdown is the only metric that matters. The presence of evaporated cane sugar and organic tapioca starch guarantees a significant carbohydrate count per serving. While the coconut cream provides a decent amount of fat, the ratio of fat to net carbs is likely too low to support a strict ketogenic state.

For a sauce to be truly keto-compliant, it generally needs to keep net carbs under 3-5 grams per serving. Because this formulation uses sugar and starch as functional ingredients, it likely exceeds this limit easily. The safflower oil adds to the fat content but offers no metabolic benefit in this context. Essentially, you are consuming a high-calorie, high-carb sauce where the fat content comes from the coconut cream, but the carb count comes from the additives.