massaman curry

On our trip to Thailand last year, we went to a cooking class, where we were introduced to the Thai kitchen. Of course, we have tried to cook Thai food before, but that was NOTHING compared to the food that we made in this class. One of the dishes that we made (and fell ‘head-over-heels-in-love-with’) was massaman curry, which is a sweet, yet salty Thai curry dish. Be aware that this dish is very spicy  🙂

INGREDIENTS (approx. 3 batches of paste)

– MASSAMAN PASTE:

1 tbs galangal (alternatively ginger)

2 tsp lemongrass (approx. 1/3 of the stem)

3 tbs shallots

2 tbs garlic

2 tsp salt

1 tbs shrimp paste

5 large dried chillies (remove the seeds and soak in water for approx. 15 minutes)

10 small dried chillies

1 tsp each of cloves, pepper corns, cumin, coriander seeds, and fennel seeds

1 piece of cinnamon

1 tsp cardamon seeds

APPROACH

Start by roasting all of the spices (excluding the cardamon seeds!)

Once they have had enough, grind them in a mortar until they turn to powder.

Bang the shallots, garlic, galangal, and lemongrass before you chop them. Afterwards fry them in a little oil until they turn brown. Then blend everything together and pour a little water into it, if necessary, however the paste shouldn’t be runny, it needs to be somewhat solid. Divide the batch into three, and seal them up. Use only one of the batches for the making of massaman curry (see below), and keep the two others in the freezer till the next time you feel like eating Thai.

INGREDIENTS (3-4 pers.)

– MASSAMAN CURRY:

1 batch of massaman paste

500 g beef, chicken, or pork (cut into chunks of 3-4 cm)

500 g of coconut milk

2 tbs roasted peanuts (I always put a lot more in!)

5 small potatoes (peeled and cut into chunks)

2 small onions (peeled and chopped)

2 bay leaves

1 cinnamon

3 tbs fish sauce

2 tbs palm sugar

3 tbs tamarind juice

Season with salt and pepper

APPROACH

Heat half of the coconut milk in a pot, and add massaman paste, roasted peanuts, meat, potatoes, and onions. Stir until fragrant and add in the rest of the coconut milk. Add fish sauce, palm sugar, tamarind juice and season with salt and pepper. Lastly, add bayleaves, cinnamon and let the dish simmer until the meat is tender. The taste should be sweet and salty.