Thai massaman curry

Massaman curry is a firm favourite for visitors to Thailand. Such is the popularity of this flavour-packed dish, CNN Travel nominated it as the ‘number one’ dish in their 2020 list of ‘The World’s 50 Best Foods’. If you fancy creating a delicious chicken or beef massaman curry at home, try this recipe from Thai chef, Nawamin Pinpathomrat, aka Dr Boss.

Ingredients:

For the curry paste:

• One and a half teaspoons of coriander seeds
• Half  a teaspoon of cumin seeds
• Four cloves
• Four cardamom seeds
• One teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• Half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 10 whole dried red chillies, soaked to soften
• Six cloves of garlic
• Four shallots
• One stem of fresh galangal
• Two stems of lemongrass
• One teaspoon of kaffir lime rind
• Half a tablespoon of sea salt flakes
• Half a tablespoon of white peppercorns
• One tablespoon of shrimp paste

For making the curry:

• 500ml of can coconut milk
• Two tablespoons of massaman curry paste
• 500g stewing beef steak, cut into large chunks or 600g chicken thighs/ drumsticks
• 300g small/ new potatoes, peeled
• Three small onions, halved
• 50g of roasted peanuts
• Four kaffir lime leaves (optional), available from Thai shops or dried from supermarkets
• One cinnamon stick (optional)
• Four star anise (optional)
• One tablespoon palm or soft light brown sugar
• One tablespoon of fish sauce (or half a tablespoon of salt)
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Method:

• Heat two tablespoons of coconut milk in a large pot with a lid. Add the curry paste and fry for five minutes with low heat.
• Then stir-fry in the beef/ chicken until well coated and sealed.
• Stir in the rest of the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook at least 30 minutes for beef/ 15 minutes for chicken until the meat is tender.
• Add the potatoes, onion, lime leaves, cinnamon, sugar, fish sauce and most of the peanuts then let it simmer for another 30 minutes.
• Sprinkle with the remaining peanuts, and then serve with jasmine rice.

Recipe courtesy of Thai chef, Nawamin Pinpathomrat, aka Dr Boss, featured on www.fanclubthailand.co.uk