Thai food recipes: Chicken/Beef 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. And for more Thailand travel and food inspiration from Dr Boss, follow our Master Chef Turns Master Tour Guide series.

Ingredients

For the curry paste 

• 1 ½ tsp of coriander seeds
• ½ tsp of cumin seeds
• 4 cloves
• 4 cardamom seeds 
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg 
• 10 whole dried red chillies, soaked to soften 
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 4 shallots 
• 1 stem fresh galangal 
• 2 stems of lemongrass 
• 1 tsp of kaffir lime rind
• ½ tbs of sea salt flakes
• ½ tbs of white peppercorns
• 1 tbs of shrimp paste 

For making the curry 

• 500ml can coconut milk
• 2 tbsp massaman curry paste
• 500g stewing beef steak, cut into large chunks or 600g chicken thighs/drumsticks 
• 300g small/new potatoes, peeled
• 3 small onion, halved 
• 50g roasted peanuts
• 4 kaffir lime leaves (optional); available from Thai shops or dried from supermarkets
• 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
• 4 star anise (optional)
• 1 tbsp palm or soft light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp fish sauce (or 1/2 tbsp salt)
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Method

• Heat 2 tbsp coconut milk in a large pot with a lid. Add the curry paste and fry for 5 min 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.

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Follow the adventures of Dr Boss on his travels around Thailand on the Fan Club Thailand Facebook and Instagram channels.

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