Massaman Curry – Chicken or Beef
150 mls Coconut Milk
100 grams Massaman Curry Paste (Make your own as below or buy a jar)
500 grams Chicken Thighs (I took the skin off, left bone in, and browned the thighs in a pan before use)
1 Onion, medium size, cut into wedges
150 grams Potato, cut into 3cm cubes.
5 Green Cardamom Pods
1 Piece Cinnamon Stick (about 5cm)
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tablespoon Tamarind Pulp
1 Tablespoon Palm Sugar
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
50 grams Peanuts or Cashew nuts lightly roasted
1. Heat up half of the coconut milk. Saute until the coconut oil separates out from the solid.
2. Add the curry paste and saute it on low heat until it turns fragrant. Stir constantly to keep the mixture from sticking
3. Add the chicken into this and mix well with the curry paste.
4. Add the Fish sauce, Palm Sugar and Tamarind Water. Taste and adjust the flavour if necessary. Massaman curry should be slightly sweet with a very subtle sour note from the Tamarind.
5. Add the Cardamom pods, cinnamon stick and bay leaves.
6. Add the rest of the coconut milk into the curry paste and bring it to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
7. Add the potatoes and onions. Simmer for another 20 minutes.
8. Add the roasted nuts to serve.
Notes:
Simmer on low heat, to get the meat tender
Add hot water if necessary before adding the potatoes and onions
The taste develops more the next day
I took the cardamom pods out when mixture was all cooked.
I took the meat off the bones at the end, and added all the meat back in to the curry
Above recipe x 5 works well with the paste below.
Massaman Curry Paste
1 Tablespoon Coriander Seeds
1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
10 red small chilies or 3 large ones – Remove the seeds and inner bits of the dried chilies
4 Green Cardamom Pods
120 grams of Shallots, finely chopped (about 3)
30 grams of Garlic, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon Ginger, finely grated (Mix this with 1/4 teaspoon Lemon Juice) (Replacement for Galangal)
½ teaspoon Nutmeg
½ teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoon Cloves
1 Tablespoon Kaffir Lime Leaves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
100 mls Vegetable Oil
1. Roast together Until Fragrant: Coriander Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Chilli and Cardamom Pods
1 (a) If you have spice grinder or Mortar & Pestle, I think it is best if ground up before adding to the other mix.
I ground mine in Mortar & Pestle once they were roasted
2. Roast together Until Brown: Shallots, Garlic, Ginger (with lemon juice)
3. Add your two mixes above into a container that you can use your stick mixer in, or use a food processor. Then add Nutmeg, Cinnamon, cloves, Kaffir Lime Leaves, white pepper, salt, fish sauce, and oil
Note: I doubled the ingredients of paste. Doubled makes around 2 cups of paste (500 grams). Freezes well
