Massaman Beef Curry
This is one of my most favourite meals ever. With the exception my other favourite meals but this has the advantage of also being extremely easy once you know how. It’s rich and creamy and very much in the “comfort food” category in my life. Don’t let the long cooking time put you off as most of that time you are free to get on with other things while this simmers away.
This is a sweet and mild curry that improves with a day or two of sitting in the fridge so a good one to make ahead and reheat. I also find that having it with cauliflower rice instead of normal rice cuts the richness of the sauce and turns it into a lighter (low-carb) meal. I would generally serve this with a spicy salad to provide a burst of freshness, or at the very least, a sweet and sour cucumber pickle.
To make cooking this easier in future, assuming you like it of course, you can pre-cook a large batch of meat in one go and freeze in batches of 500g. You can then quickly defrost the beef and cook the lot in an hour and a bit for a quick dinner that requires few ingredients. Let’s face it, there are usually some spuds and carrots to be found somewhere in the house or can easily be bought in the least promising of local shops.
Nearly forgot – to be more authentic you are supposed to add some chopped, roasted peanuts at the end. And not the salted kind either, in case that even entered your mind. I don’t as I never have any so I’ve left it out of the ingredients list. If using peanuts, add just before serving.
- 500 g braising or stewing beef cut into roughly 1 inch squares
- 2 cans coconut milk
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp Massaman curry paste
- 1 tbsp palm sugar Subsitute soft brown sugar if necessary
- 1 tbsp fish sauce Ideally a gluten-free variety
- 2 medium carrots
- 6 medium new potatoes
- 2 tsp tamarind paste
- First, a quick process to remove impurities from the meat. Some people omit this step but it really does improve the taste and texture of the final recipe.
- Place meat in a saucepan and completely cover with boiling water. Switch on the heat and allow it to boil, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. This will cause a lot of brown/grey scum to form on the surface. This is the bit we don't want to eat.
- Skim off the scum with a spoon and discard. Continue to do this while the meat boils on a low heat as more scum will continue to form.
- After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and remove the meat with a slotted spoon. Discard the water and rinse out the saucepan.
- Empty 1 full can of coconut milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the beef. The coconut milk should cover the beef. If it doesn't, it would be best to switch to a smaller saucepan as any uncovered meat will dry out in cooking.
- Once boiling, turn the heat down to very low, cover loosely with a lid (so some steam can still escape) and let it cook for an hour then test the meat. If using braising beef, an hour should be enough. If using stewing beef, you may need to cook it initially between 90 minutes and 2 hours. Test the meat to see if you can pull strands off a chunk. If so, it is ready to move on to the next phase. (The meat should no longer be really tough and should be almost edible - there is more cooking to come so it doesn't need to be fully tender yet.)
- Turn off the heat and leave the saucepan covered. Do NOT discard the liquid, it has all the flavour.
- Melt the oil and just the solid cream from the remaining can of coconut milk in a medium-large saucepan or a wok. Heat it over medium heat until the coconut cream starts to bubble and crack.
- Add the curry paste and allow it to fry until it is fully dissolved and oil forms on the top of the curry. You may need to help the paste break up with a spatula. This stage can take around 10 minutes so be patient with it and wait until pools of oil start forming. This is a good sign and completely desirable.
- Now add the sugar and let it dissolve and caramelise. This takes roughly 2-3 minutes. Add half a tablespoon of fish sauce.
- Add the remaining liquid from the can of coconut milk and the coconut milk in which the beef was cooked. Keep the beef in a bowl to one side for now.
- Bring the curry to the boil so that oil returns to the surface and add the beef. Turn the heat right down to very low, cover loosely with a lid and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, peel the carrots and potatoes. Cut the carrots into about 1/2 inch chunks (better larger than smaller if in doubt) and cut the potatoes to a similar size.
- After 30 minutes, add carrots to the curry and cook another 5 minutes before adding the potatoes. Loosely close the lid again and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
- Lift the lid and test that the potatoes are tender by inserting a small sharp knife into a chunk. It should go in smoothly. Now adjust the seasoning and it will be ready to serve.
- Taste the curry sauce. It should be quite sweet. Everyone's preference is different but this curry is meant to have a sweet and slightly sour kind of taste so adjust to suit you. Start by adding 1 teaspoon of tamarind paste. Mix in well and taste. If you want more sourness then add more tamarind paste, a little at a time until you like the flavour. If you need more saltiness, add fish sauce, a little at a time as it's quite powerful stuff. Don't forget that you'll be eating it with rice so the aim is to make the curry sauce taste a bit too strong to be eaten on its own. Add peanuts, if using, and turn off the heat.
- Serve with jasmine rice.