Thai Massaman Beef Curry
I love Thailand, and one of my favourite memories is of attending a cooking school in Bangkok, where we shopped for fresh ingredients at the markets, before cooking meal after meal in a beautiful old colonial house.
We practised all the well-known classics of the Thai kitchen and got plenty of exercise grinding up curry pastes in huge stone mortars and pestles. We made green, red, and yellow curry, but my favourite Thai curry has to be the wonderfully aromatic Thai Massaman Beef Curry.
This is a curious curry as it is real fusion cuisine, mixing some of the classic Thai ingredients with Indian. It’s a relatively mild curry, but it makes up for that by being rich with fragrant spices and full of tender beef.
It’s believed the recipe was brought to Thailand by Muslim traders sometime in the 17th century, as the base spices, cumin, cinnamon and cardamom, are unusual for a Thai dish. Whatever the origin, this is a wonderfully comforting dish.
While using a big mortar and pestle to grind up your curry paste seems romantic, it is much easier to use a food processor!
I’ve given the recipe here for a simple massaman curry paste, though it is perfectly alright to use a good-quality store-bought paste if you are in a hurry. If you’re using a store-bought paste, do keep an eye on the sodium content, as some are extremely salty! As with most Thai curries, you can swap out the beef for other meats if you like; chicken will need a shorter cooking time.
It’s important to adjust the flavouring of curry to your taste, so I’d recommend tasting it when it comes out of the oven and adding more spice to suit it. I like it a bit spicer, so I add chilli at the end and a squeeze of fresh lime to lift the flavours. It’s not traditional, but I love coriander, so I add plenty of that, too.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I use other meats to make Massaman Curry?
Yes! As it was a Muslim dish, pork would be unusual but perfectly tasty, chicken or even tofu are fine. You’ll need to adjust the cooking times as beef takes the longest to cook.
I’m allergic to peanuts! Can I leave them out of the Massaman Curry?
Of course! Either substitute with other nuts if you can or leave them out entirely.
Can I use low-fat coconut milk to make Massaman Curry?
You can, but I wouldn’t recommend it, low-fat coconut milk is often full of stabilisers to make it thick, and they can curdle during long cooking.
Rich, aromatic and full of warming spice, Thai Massaman Beef Curry is a real crowd pleaser.
THAI MASSAMAN BEEF CURRY Recipe
Thai Massaman Beef Curry
The richest and most comforting of all the Thai curries, it’s believed the recipe for Thai Massaman Beef Curry was brought to Thailand by Persian traders in the 17th century. It’s so aromatic and not too spicy which makes it perfect for families.
Ingredients
- 750 g chuck or flank steak
- 3 tsp cornflour / cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp neutral oil
- 400 ml tin coconut milk, chilled in the tin
- 3-4 Tbsp massaman curry paste
- 250 ml beef stock, see note
- 100 g roasted peanuts, rinsed if salted
- 300 g small new potatoes, halved or quartered
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp tamarind paste
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp cardamom pods, crushed
- 1 cinnamon stick
to serve:
- basmati or jasmine rice
- extra chilli
- coriander leaves
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180°C / 350°G / Gas 4. Cut the steak into large cubes, roughly 5cm each. They will shrink on cooking. Dry with a paper towel, then dust with the cornflour.
- Heat the oil in a heavy-based, oven-proof casserole dish. Brown the beef in batches, making sure not to crowd the pan, otherwise the meat will stew rather than brown. Remove each batch to a plate and proceed with the next.
- When the meat is browned, open the coconut milk and spoon 3 tablespoons of the thick, set cream on top into the pan. Stir well, using a wooden spoon to scrape up all the browned on flavour on the bottom of the pan. Add the curry paste and cook for one minute, stirring.
- Return the beef and any resting juices to the pan, stir to coat in the coconut, then add all remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat, cover with a tightly fitting lid and cook in the preheated oven for 2 hours, removing the lid for the last 30 minutes of cooking time.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice and enjoy the amazing aroma wafting through the house.When the curry has cooked, the meat should be beautifully tender. Divide between 4 plates and serve immediately.
Notes
If you are using a store-bought paste, they can be full of salt. Check the ingredients and if there is a lot of salt either use sodium-reduced beef stock or make it half strength from powder or cubes. If you have made your paste from the recipe here there is no additional salt so you can add it as you like.
If you would prefer a thicker curry, don’t try to reduce the sauce as this will just toughen the meat. When you take the curry out of the oven, mix 1-2 tsp of cornflour / cornstarch with 2 Tbsp of cold water, stirring until smooth. Place the curry over medium heat, add the cornflour mixture and stir until thickened.
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Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 1218kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 94g | Fat: 67g | Saturated Fat: 31g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 30g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 244mg | Sodium: 1423mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 11g
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