Korma (chicken korma or lamb korma) is a mild, rich curry made from ghee, cream or coconut cream, yoghurt, almond or cashew paste, and a spice blend including turmeric, cardamom, coriander, and cinnamon. It is sometimes finished with saffron. The pale golden-yellow colour belies a very high fat load and multiple protein sources: dairy fat and casein from the cream and yoghurt, nut oil and nut protein from the almond or cashew paste, ghee (clarified butter), and meat protein. On carpet, the fat management is the primary challenge — korma has one of the highest combined fat loads of any common curry, and cornflour must do significant work before the protein and colour steps can be effective.
Cleaning steps
- Remove solid meat pieces and any visible nut paste lumps by hand before liquid treatment.
- Apply cornflour very generously to absorb the combined ghee, cream, and nut oil fat. Allow 15 minutes and vacuum. Repeat the cornflour step — korma's fat load is high enough that two rounds are typically needed before moving on.
- Apply cold water and blot to dilute the cream and yoghurt residue.
- Apply dish soap solution (1 teaspoon per cup of cold water) and blot to emulsify the remaining fat.
- Apply enzyme cleaner and allow 20 minutes dwell time for the combined cream casein, yoghurt protein, nut protein, and meat protein. The multiple protein sources benefit from a longer dwell than single-protein sauces.
- Rinse thoroughly with cold water blotting.
- For yellow colour on light carpet: apply hydrogen peroxide (3%) with a 10-minute dwell for the turmeric curcumin and any saffron crocin pigment. Blot and rinse.
- Apply baking soda overnight for the complex cardamom and spice smell. Vacuum the next morning.
Two cornflour rounds before anything else — korma's fat load is very high
Korma contains ghee, cream or coconut cream, and nut paste — three separate fat sources that combine to make it one of the fattiest curry sauces. If you apply dish soap before the fat load is sufficiently reduced by cornflour, the soap is overwhelmed by the fat volume and cannot emulsify it effectively. Two rounds of cornflour with 15 minutes each and thorough vacuuming between rounds is the right preparation before the dish soap step. The cornflour coming up relatively clean on the second vacuum is the signal that the fat load is manageable for dish soap.
Korma variations
- Lamb korma: lamb has more fat than chicken, and the rendered lamb fat has a more pronounced smell. Three rounds of cornflour may be needed. Baking soda is more important for lamb korma smell than chicken korma.
- Vegetable korma (no meat): removes the meat protein source but the nut paste, cream, and yoghurt proteins remain significant. Enzyme dwell of 15–20 minutes is still appropriate.
- Coconut korma (with coconut cream instead of dairy cream): coconut fat is treated identically by cornflour and dish soap. No dairy casein, but the coconut protein and nut protein sources remain for the enzyme cleaner.
- Korma with saffron: saffron adds crocin and safranal pigments — a more intense yellow than turmeric alone. Hydrogen peroxide addresses crocin; allow 10–15 minute dwell on light carpet.
- Restaurant korma (heavy cream): restaurant versions often have more cream and ghee than home-made. Three cornflour rounds and a 20-minute enzyme dwell are appropriate for a generous restaurant korma spill.
Korma left a greasy residue or yellow tinge?
High-fat curry sauces with multiple protein sources may need professional hot-water extraction to fully remove the combined fat and protein load from carpet pile.
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Frequently asked
The korma sauce contained a large amount of cashew paste (a thick nut butter consistency). The carpet feels very greasy even after two cornflour rounds. What do I do?
Cashew paste is a concentrated emulsion of cashew oil and starch that behaves differently from liquid cream fat. The fat is bound up in the starch matrix and is less accessible to cornflour than free liquid fat. Before the third cornflour round, apply warm water (not hot) to the area and allow it to penetrate the pile for 5 minutes — this loosens the cashew paste from the fibres and makes the fat more accessible to the cornflour. After the warm water, apply cornflour and allow 15 minutes. The cornflour absorbs better from a rehydrated paste than from a dry set one. After this round, proceed with dish soap and enzyme cleaner. The enzyme cleaner is particularly important for cashew paste because the cashew starch and protein components both need enzymatic breakdown.
Korma sauce spilled onto a natural fibre rug (wool or silk). Can I still use enzyme cleaner?
For wool: use an enzyme cleaner labelled wool-safe — some protease enzyme formulations at high concentration can damage wool protein over extended dwell times. Apply sparingly and limit dwell to 10 minutes rather than 20 for wool. The cornflour and dish soap steps are safe on wool. Skip hydrogen peroxide on wool — it can bleach the fibres. For silk: enzyme cleaners are generally not safe for silk as silk is a protein fibre that is vulnerable to protease enzymes. For a korma spill on silk, use only the cornflour and dish soap steps, rinsing very gently. For the yellow colour on a silk rug, professional cleaning by a silk rug specialist is the safest approach rather than attempting hydrogen peroxide.
After the korma spill was cleaned, a faint oily smell developed over the next week. Is this the nut oil going rancid?
Yes — a slowly developing rancid smell over days after cleaning is the signature of residual nut oil oxidising in the carpet pile. Almond and cashew oil have moderate oxidative stability but will go rancid if left in the fibres at ambient temperature, particularly in a warm room. Re-treat the area with dish soap (working it into the pile gently) and rinse very thoroughly. The dish soap step emulsifies the residual oil so it can be rinsed out. After rinsing and drying, apply baking soda overnight to absorb any remaining oxidised odour compounds. If the rancid smell has also reached the underlay (detectable as smell rising from below the carpet surface), a professional hot-water extraction is the only effective solution for the underlay component.