Massaman curry is a delicious Thai curry dish. This mild curry with its authentic taste originates from the south of Thailand, where the population is predominantly Muslim. The name originates from the word ‘Musulman’, or ‘Muslim’.
Massaman curry is a sweet and sour, spicy orange-brown curry and is made with dry spices such as coriander, cumin, black pepper, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg. The typical taste of the massaman curry is partly due to the firm meats that you can use, such as chicken on the bone, beef stew or lamb. Pork is rarely used, given the Muslim background of this dish.
The most special ingredient in this curry is the potato. Coconut milk is also indispensable in this curry and you can really finish off the dish by sprinkling a handful of unsalted peanuts on top of it. You can buy ready-made massaman curry paste at the supermarket, but you can create your own as well very easily.
Thai Beef Massaman Curry
SaveIngredients
Massaman curry paste
- 3 chilli peppers dried without seeds
- 2 star anise
- 1 cm cinnamon stick
- 3 cardamom pods
- 1 tsp black peppercorn
- 1 tsp coriander seed
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 5 shallots finely chopped
- 1/2 stalk lemongrass finely chopped
- 1 cm galangal root finely chopped
- oil
- pinch salt
- 1/2 tsp shrimp paste
Massaman curry
- 800 ml coconut milk
- 500 gr beef chuck
- oil
- 4 large onions quartered
- 100 gr peanuts unsalted and roasted
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 100 gr brown sugar light
- 1.5 tsp tamarind paste
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 cardamom pods
- 4 potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1 sweet potato peeled and diced
Instructions
For the massaman curry paste
- Soak the dried chillies in a bowl of hot water for 15 minutes. Pat them dry and chop them finely.
- Heat a frying pan at medium heat and toast the star anise, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, black peppercorns and cardamom pods for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove it from the pan, put it in a mortar and grind finely. If you don’t have a mortar, try grinding it in a food processor.
- Then roast the galangal, shallots and garlic for 2-3 minutes. Place them in the mortar as well and grind finely.
- Add the dried chillies, salt and shrimp paste to the mortar with a drizzle of oil and pound until it becomes a smooth mixture.
For the massaman curry
- Heat oil in a frying pan, add the meat and cook until it is completely brown all over. Then add half of the coconut milk and 100 ml of water. Turn the heat down to low heat, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 50-60 minutes.
- Heat a wok at medium heat and stir-fry the massaman curry paste for 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Pour 150 ml coconut milk into the curry paste and stir for 2 minutes.
- Pour the curry paste and coconut milk into the roasting pan with the meat. Then add the onions, peanuts, bay leaves, fish sauce, sugar, tamarind paste, cinnamon, cardamom pods and the rest of the coconut milk. Let it simmer at low heat for 40 minutes.
- Add the potatoes and sweet potatoes to the pan and simmer for another 40 minutes until the potatoes have softened and the meat is tender.
- Serve the massaman curry with rice.
