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How to Make Massaman Curry?
Massaman curry is a southern Thai curry. It’s commonly made with beef, coconut milk, potatoes and peanuts. You can also use chicken for this recipe.
This beef Massaman curry recipe does take a bit of time to cook as you want to slowly cook the beef so they become tender, soft, and melt in your mouth.
The active time is only 15 minutes; you just have to marinate the beef with the curry paste. Next, stir fry the spices before adding the beef. To make the curry sauce, add coconut milk, fish sauce, water, potatoes, peanuts and palm sugar.
The curry is done when the beef becomes tender.
Massaman Curry Paste
While you can make the curry paste from scratch, store-bought curry paste is perfectly fine for homemade Thai curries. It’s very convenient and delivers amazing and authentic flavors.
I use Maesri brand curry paste, which is in a small can. You can keep the unused curry paste in the fridge for a few weeks as long as you cover it with plastic wrap.
What Spices Are in Massaman Curry?
Many spices are used in the curry as well as the curry paste:
- Green cardamom seeds
- Cinnamon sticks
- Cloves
- Star anise
- Dried red chilies
- Garlic
- Lemongrass
- Galangal
- Shrimp paste
How Many Calories
This recipe serves 4 people and each serving is 389 calories.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
This curry is best served with steamed rice. For a wholesome Thai meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Massaman Curry
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs (750g) cubed chuck beef or stewing beef
- 3 tablespoons Massaman curry paste
- 10 green cardamom seeds
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 3 star anise
- 8 shallots (peeled)
- 2 cans coconut milk (5.6 fl oz each)
- 1 cup water
- 2.5 tablespoons fish sauce (or to taste)
- 1 medium-sized potato (peeled and cut into chunks)
- 0.5 tablespoon tamarind paste
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted roasted peanuts
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- fresh Thai basil leaves
Instructions
- Coat beef in 1 tablespoon of oil and massaman curry paste. Stir well and set aside.
- In a large pot, heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Stir-fry the cardamom, cinnamon and star anise for 40 seconds. Add the whole shallots and fry until golden brown.
- Add the beef and brown for 1-2 minutes. Stir to mix well with the spices.
- Add 1 can of coconut milk, 2 tbsp of fish sauce and 1/2 to 1 cup of water until the beef is just covered by the liquid. Stir well and then bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn heat down very low and cover. Gently simmer for 1 hour.
- Add the remaining can of coconut milk, potatoes, peanuts and half the basil leaves. Stir well. Taste and add a little more fish sauce if necessary.
- Turn heat up to medium-low and cover. Cook for another 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, remove the curry from the heat. Stir in the palm sugar, tamarind juice and remaining basil. Stir well and serve the curry with steamed rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.