Beef Massaman Curry Recipe

Slow Cooked Beef Massaman Curry – Rich, fall-apart slow cooked beef curry during a spicy homemade sauce with new potatoes. Perfect comfort food! Make extra and freeze some for a busy weeknight.

I love a fast green thai chicken curry for a midweek meal, but a slow cooked curry with lovely juicy chunks of meat that disintegrate and therefore the tastiest saucy potatoes? Now that’s something else entirely!!

Beef Massaman Curry Recipe

Massaman curry may be a Thai curry that’s rich but relatively mild heat-wise. It contains many spices -which can vary from curry to curry, plus meat, potatoes and coconut milk or milk. 

I absolutely love Massaman – both the meat version, and that i also make one with an entire chicken. I’ll need to share it on here once I get the prospect to photograph it.

INGREDIENTS :

Massaman Paste - makes about 6 tbsp:

• 1 chopped red onion
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 mild red chillies roughly chopped (or use fewer chillies, depending on how hot you like it) - I use Fresno chillies
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 3 cloves garlic peeled
• 2 sticks of lemongrass outer leaves removed, softer inside chopped finely (or replace with 2 tsp lemongrass paste)
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• small bunch fresh coriander/cilantro stalks you'll be using the leaves later to serve, so just wrap them in a bit of damp tissue to keep them fresh
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp shrimp paste optional, also it's generally gluten free, but best to check
• 3 tsp fish sauce ,make sure it's a gluten free brand if needed
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Other curry ingredients:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1.5 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
• 2 1/4 lb (1kg) braising beef (beef chuck) chopped into chunks
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 2/3 cup (400ml) beef stock - 2 stock cubes with water is fine use kallo beef bouillon cubes for gluten free
• 14 oz (400g) can coconut milk it's usually gluten free, but double check
• 1 lb (500g) baby new potatoes (slice any bigger ones in half)
• Juice of 1 lime

To Serve:

• Boiled rice
• Chopped fresh coriander/cilantro
• Chopped red chillies
• Lime wedges

INSTRUCTIONS :

1. Place all the paste ingredients in a food processor or mini chopper and blend until it forms a paste. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan. Toss the chopped beef in the cornflour, salt and pepper. Fry the meat in the oil for about 5 mins on medium to high heat. You can do this in batches, but I find that if you put the meat in, and leave it alone for a few minutes before you stir it, you'll get a nice dark colour on the beef. The beef will probably stick a bit to the pan, so you might need to give it a little scrape with a spatula.
3. Once the beef has cooked for 5 mins, turn down the heat a little and add in the spice paste you made earlier. Give it a stir to coat the beef and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Add in the beef stock and coconut milk. Give everything a stir (make sure you give any bits stuck at the bottom of the pan a scrape), place the lid on and gently simmer on a low heat for 1 hour 45 mins (alternatively you can place in the oven at about 160C/320F). Give it a stir every so often. If it's starting to look dry you can add in some more beef stock or water.
5. After the 1 hour 45 mins, add in the potatoes, give it a stir and cook for a further 25 - 30 mins until the potatoes are tender (this is a good time to start cooking your rice too).
6. Take out of the oven and mix in the lime juice. Serve the curry on a bed of rice with a sprinkling of coriander/cilantro, fresh chillies and a wedge of lime.

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