This is one of those recipes that takes time and has a lot of ingredients, but it absolutely worth it. If you have friends over for dinner and you want to impress them with a curry - and they like it hot - this is the curry to impress. The beef is melt in the mouth soft, the potatoes get saturated with the sauce and go almost chewy and the sauce is spicy with chillies, yet sweet with coconut and the whole thing together is like a bowl of just....awesome.
You can, of course buy massaman curry paste in most stores, I haven't tried them yet, but am sure would be lovely if you buy a good brand. I have added the curry paste recipe, as I had the ingredients and with one of those mini blenders, takes about 10 minutes to make. I really can't recommend those mini blenders more - I use mine all the time.
It is such a shame that the photo doesn't really do the dish justice. It looks like beef and potatoes in a gravy. But read through the ingredients and you may just begin to imagine...or you may have eaten it before somewhere. It is an absolute wow of a dish. But again I warn you, my paste recipe is rather spicy!
For the curry paste:
13 dried red chillies
1 tbsp. coriander seeds, ground
1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
5 peppercorns
3 cloves, ground
5 shallots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp. shrimp paste
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 - 2 sticks lemongrass, chopped (or 1 heaped tbsp. paste)
1 inch piece ginger, chopped
1 tsp. fish sauce
Toast the whole spices and then put into a grinder, or crush with a pestle and mortar. Then add to all the other ingredients and blend until a thick paste.
For the curry
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 onion, cut into large pieces
about 1/3 cup massaman curry paste
1 kg beef stewing steak
1 inch piece ginger, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
400ml can of coconut milk
1/2 cup (125ml) beef stock (cube is fine)
300g potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 bay leaves
1 stick cinnamon
2 tbsp. palm sugar
juice of 2 limes
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1/3 cup (45g) roasted unsalted peanuts
Steamed rice
Fresh coriander, to serve
Heat the oil in a heavy based pan and cook the onion until beginning to brown. Add the curry paste and cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Then add the beef, stirring until beginning to brown.
Add the ginger and garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes. Then you can add the coconut milk, stock, potatoes, bay, cinnamon, sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and peanuts. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and leave to gently simmer for about 2 hours.
Serve the curry over some steamed rice and garnish with a little fresh coriander.
