Chicken Massaman curry
| Chicken Massaman curry | |
|---|---|
| Electus |
| Servings: | Serves 4 |
| Ready in: | 55 minutes |
| Prep. time: | 15 minutes |
| Cook time: | 40 minutes |
| Difficulty: | 
|
This chicken Massaman curry is made from scratch, not using any processed curry pastes.
Massaman curry (Thai: แกงมัสมั่น, RTGS: kaeng matsaman, IPA: [kɛːŋ mát.sa.màn]) is a rich, relatively mild Thai curry that is an interpretation of a Persian dish.
Massaman or matsaman is not a native Thai word. It is generally thought to refer to the Muslims with earlier writers from the mid-19th century calling the dish "Mussulman curry"; Mussulman being an archaic form of the word Muslim.
Ingredients
Ingredients
Printable 🖨 shopping 🛒 list & 👩🍳 method for this recipe
- 450 g (1 lb) of boneless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
- 500g/1lb 2oz of Potatoes#BOILED_POTATOES boiling potatoes, cut into matchbox sized pieces
- 2 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil
- 2 medium onions, peeled and sliced
- 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 5 cm (2") fresh ginger, peeled and roughly grated
- 2 red chillies, sliced, or to taste
- 142 ml (¼ pint) of good strong chicken stock
- 1 stalk lemongrass, chopped and bashed in a pestle and mortar, or 3 tablespoon prepared lemongrass
- 5 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground white cumin seeds
- Seeds from 2 black cardamom pods, freshly ground
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon tamarind paste
- 2 tablespoons nam pla (fish sauce)
- 1 teaspoon shrimp paste
- 1 tablespoon jaggery or brown sugar
- 1 small red pepper, de-seeded and thinly sliced - bottled red peppers are a good substitute for this if you don;t have fresh peppers to hand
- 1 large fresh tomato, peeled if you wish, and chopped
garnish
- Roasted unsalted cashew nuts or peanuts, chopped
- Coriander leaves
Mise en place
- If you have the time, marinade the chicken thighs in a little lemon or lime juice and a large pinch of salt for a few hours a cool place.
Method
- Add the ghee or vegetable oil to a wok and saute the onions. Once they are lightly browned, stir fry the ginger, garlic and chillies for a minute or so. Don't allow the garlic to burn.
- Add kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin seeds, ground cardamom, ground cumin seeds, black pepper, tamarind paste, nam pla, shrimp paste and jaggery or brown sugar.
- Mix this well to combine and add the chicken stock and coconut milk.
- Add the potatoes and chicken pieces, bring to a boil then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.
- Pop the chopped tomato and red pepper into the curry when there is 15 minutes to go.
Serving suggestions
Serve with a little plain boiled rice, remembering that you already have potatoes in this dish.
Garnish with chopped nuts and coriander leaves.
Variations
If you don;t have kaffir lime leaves, use 2 bay leaves, fresh or dried. The flavour won;t be the same but the bay leaves do add a little more flavour
Chef's notes
For extra flavour, chop the stalks from the coriander leaves and add them to the pestle and mortar while you are bashing the lemongrass.