Sunday, April 7, 2013
My take on Beef Massaman Curry ( from scratch)
Here I was talking about old habits and fish on Fridays and just on Good Friday I decided to make Massaman curry. But let me start at the beginning.
We love to watch MasterChef, especially MasterChef Australia and while we were in South Africa on holiday, we missed quite a few episodes and were now feverish catching up. One episode was a challenge to improve a bad Massaman Curry. To be honest, I've never heard of that kind of curry before, but then I never was a big fan of curries anyway, mostly because they were way too spicy for me. They described the curry as rather mild compared to other curries, so I had immediately to look up the recipe, as it sounded delicious.
I found one here, but I wanted to do make the curry paste from scratch, so I also orientated me on that recipe and I was really happy, that I had almost all ingredients at home, although I had to substitute galangal (never heard about it before) with ginger, the cinnamon sticks with grounded cinnamon, the shrimp paste with fish sauce and I had to leave out Mace (outside tissue of a nutmeg - never heard about it until MasterChef, so I had no clue where to get it) and unfortunately lemon grass, because mine was mouldy. Also I had to substitute tamarind pods with lime juice.
I have to admit, I missed quite a few ingredients, but even without them we had a very delicious curry I was really proud of.
But it was a long road - somehow I misread the cooking time. My husband remembered, that it has to cook for at least two hours, I on the other hand read somewhere it takes about 50 minutes. Well, as it turned out, that was for a Chicken Massaman Curry.
Anyway, I started late morning with the paste; and here the tip of the day: don't do a curry from scratch, if you have a baby and a toddler to look after at the same time. I burned my first set of spices and my first grilled garlic and onions and it took me till late afternoon to make that paste only . That evening we had instead of curry chicken piccata, as my curry was only ready the next day. My husband wasn't a happy camper, smelling curry all day and having chicken piccata to eat, but I can recommend now to prepare the curry the previous day.
For the paste
4 pods cardamom
2 tsp cinnamon
5 cloves
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/3 tbsp cumin
4 dried whole chilies
1 small piece ginger (julienne cut)
1 head garlic
1 stalk lemon grass (I didn't have it, but I would have added it)
1/3 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp coarse salt
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 Nutmeg
For the curry
500g Beef (shoulder or stewing) - I took rump and it worked out too, but I guess the other cuts are much better
1 tsp cinnamon
3 star anise
4 small onions, cut in half
1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup of water
1 tbsp fish sauce
3 medium potatoes, cubed
1- 2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp brown sugar (if you have, you should take palm sugar)
2 handfuls salted, roasted cashew nuts
2 tbsp of coconut oil
massaman curry paste
We obviously start with the paste and roast first the onions and the garlic pod. Leave the pod in one piece for the roasting, otherwise it will burn too quick. I first tried to roast it on my gas stove over open fire and ended up roasting the second batch in the oven under the grill. But keep an eye on it, I almost burned the second batch too. But I guess that's me... You need to roast it till it's soft in the middle and a bit carbonised. Than leave the garlic and onions to cool, peel them and remove any black spots.
Meanwhile remove the seeds from the chillies, cut the ginger and slice the lemon grass thin. Heat your pan to medium and roast the chilies and the lemon grass till brown. Remove from the pan and put all the other spices in (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds, cumin) and toast them by swirling around in the pan till you have a nice aroma. You must be very careful not to burn it, it happens faster than you think.
The original recipe pounds all spices in a mortar. I broke mine a few days prior, so I had to process all with a handheld mixer . If you're using a mortar, check the order of the spices to pound in the original recipe, I'm sure all the fragrances and flavours are coming out better in a mortar. I just mixed all paste ingredients at once.
For the curry you need to cube your beef and marinade it with the curry paste and 1 tbsp of coconut oil.
In a wok or a large pot heat the remaining tbsp coconut oil and add the cardamom seeds, cinnamon and star anise. Stir-fry quickly and add your onions, stir-fry till golden brown.
Add then the meat and fry it stirring for 2-3 minutes till it has a nice color.
Pour half the can of coconut milk and 1 tbsp of fish sauce in, add water till the meat is covered, bring to boil and reduce the heat to the lowest point. Cover and let it simmer for 1.5 hours.
Next add the potato cubes and the second half of the coconut milk and let it simmer on medium heat for another half an hour. Turn of the heat, let it cool down before putting in the fridge for approximately 12 hours.
Half an hour before serving add the cashew nuts, pour in the lime juice and stir in the sugar. Reheat the curry on medium-low heat and serve with jasmine rice.
Three days later we had the curry again, this time with flatbread and it tasted even better, although it's a traditional Thai dish served with rice. Also the curry tasted even more delicious, as everything got soaked through.
Enjoy!
Meanwhile remove the seeds from the chillies, cut the ginger and slice the lemon grass thin. Heat your pan to medium and roast the chilies and the lemon grass till brown. Remove from the pan and put all the other spices in (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds, cumin) and toast them by swirling around in the pan till you have a nice aroma. You must be very careful not to burn it, it happens faster than you think.
The original recipe pounds all spices in a mortar. I broke mine a few days prior, so I had to process all with a handheld mixer . If you're using a mortar, check the order of the spices to pound in the original recipe, I'm sure all the fragrances and flavours are coming out better in a mortar. I just mixed all paste ingredients at once.
For the curry you need to cube your beef and marinade it with the curry paste and 1 tbsp of coconut oil.
In a wok or a large pot heat the remaining tbsp coconut oil and add the cardamom seeds, cinnamon and star anise. Stir-fry quickly and add your onions, stir-fry till golden brown.
Add then the meat and fry it stirring for 2-3 minutes till it has a nice color.
Pour half the can of coconut milk and 1 tbsp of fish sauce in, add water till the meat is covered, bring to boil and reduce the heat to the lowest point. Cover and let it simmer for 1.5 hours.
Next add the potato cubes and the second half of the coconut milk and let it simmer on medium heat for another half an hour. Turn of the heat, let it cool down before putting in the fridge for approximately 12 hours.
Half an hour before serving add the cashew nuts, pour in the lime juice and stir in the sugar. Reheat the curry on medium-low heat and serve with jasmine rice.
Three days later we had the curry again, this time with flatbread and it tasted even better, although it's a traditional Thai dish served with rice. Also the curry tasted even more delicious, as everything got soaked through.
Enjoy!
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