Delicious Massaman Curry

Thai food is one of my all time favorite foods!  There is a cute little restaurant near my house, Spicy Thai.  I have to admit, I might have their number on speed dial.  Actually, it is really any dish with curry in it that is my favorite. 

Some people hear curry and think spicy.  Delicious massaman curry is not spicy and your whole family will love it. All the ingredients in this dish are things I have on hand in my house, except the massaman curry.  Although, after making this the first time, I now keep massaman curry in my refrigerator all the time.  It lasts a long time.  The curry can be purchased in any grocery store and, for sure, in an Asian grocery store.

Delicious Massaman Curry has chicken, carrots, potatoes, onions, cilantro, curry and a few other ingredients.  There is a little preparation to chop the vegetables, but once that is done, the dish comes together easily.  It needs to simmer for 15-20 minutes to marry all the flavors.  I promise, if you love curry, you will love this recipe!

How To Make Delicious Massaman Curry

1. When you buy the chicken for this dish, put it in the freezer over night.  Then in the morning, pull it out and put it in the refrigerator.  When you bring it out to slice, in the evening for dinner, it will be half frozen.  This half frozen chicken allows you to slice it very thin.  You actually are just shaving pieces of chicken as you slice.  These thin slices of chicken cook faster and make it very easy to cut the meat while eating the curry.  I like using a spoon, when I eat this, and I want to be able to cut the meat with my spoon.

2. Slice the onion very thin.  I cut the tops and bottoms of the onion off.  Then I take off the outer skin layer of onion.  Cut the onion in half and place the flat side on your cutting board.  Curl you fingers up and bring the knife down just in front of your fingers to make very thin slices.  Move your fingers back just a very small amount and make another slice.  These half moon slices of onions are so tasty in this dish.

3.  Peel the potatoes and the carrots.  I like a lot of veggies in my dish, so if you feel there are too many, adjust the recipe.  Once the potatoes are peeled, I cut them in half lengthwise, put them on the flat side and then make long slices, 1/2 inch wide, and then turn the cutting board a quarter turn and cut the other direction.  It makes perfect little cubes.  Easy to cook and easy to eat.

Then slice the carrots in round discs.

Slice the carrots the same way you sliced the onions.  Curl your fingers on top of the carrots and slice through the whole carrot moving your fingers back just a little after each cut to make beautiful round, medallions of carrots.

4.  Cook the curry paste and turn on the fan.  Curry paste can be stinky, so be prepared to open a few windows. Use a large pot that you might make soup in.  Put the vegetable oil in the pan and heat it.  Add the curry paste to the hot oil.  Stir the paste in the oil while it is cooking for about three minutes.

Curry paste is made of a lot of spices that need to be cooked.  I equate this process to making a rue.   In a rue, you need to cook the flour in the butter.  In the curry, you are cooking the spices in the oil.  

5.  Add a can of coconut milk and stir until well blended.  Now add the ginger, lime juice, chopped cilantro, brown sugar, fish sauce and Worcestershire Sauce.  Mix this all together and bring to a boil.

6.  Add the sliced onions and chicken.  This is the beginning of a beautiful marriage as you marry the flavors of the curry paste and spices with the onions and chicken.    Bring this to a boil, then add another can of coconut milk.  Once it comes to a boil again, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes with the lid on.  Make sure the chicken is all white and cooked through.

7.  At this point, add the cubed potatoes,  sliced carrots and peanut butter.  Use a large spoon and mix everything together, then bring to a boil.  You might be a little afraid of the peanut butter, but to be honest I can hardly taste it in this dish.  There are a lot of Thai dishes that use ground peanuts. The flavors all meld together to make the most delicious curry.  I think you will miss out if you do not add it.

Bring everything to a boil and cover.

8.  Bring everything to a boil and cover.  Reduce the heat to a simmer, keep the lid on, and cook for 15 – 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.  Take the lid off and stir everything together every 3-5 minutes while this is simmering.  Then put the lid back on.

9.  While the Delicious Massaman Curry is simmering, make a pot of perfect rice.  Perfect rice is 4 cups of water with 2 cups of rice.  Put it in a pan and put the lid on.  Bring it to a boil.  Keep an eye on it so it does not overflow.  You want to turn the heat down as soon as you see steam coming out from under the lid. 

I turn the heat down to medium and watch the pan for a minute.  Then I turn it down again to the lowest setting on my stovetop.  Set the timer for 20 minutes.  DO NOT PEEK.  The steam is cooking your rice and if you peek, you mess everything up.  

When the timer goes off, turn the heat off.  Let the rice sit with the lid on for another minute or two.  When you take the lid off, your rice should look like this.  If you see those little holes, you have cooked perfect rice!

10.  After the curry has cooked for 15 minutes, add a tablespoon or two of Sriracha sauce.  I take the bottle and squirt a big circle and then spiral inside the circle.  It probably is at least a 1/4 cup.  I do not think it makes it really spicy, just flavorful.  Mix everything together well.  

Here is a little tip when making dishes with a lot of liquid like curries or soups.  When you have finished cooking everything, turn the heat off and leave the lid on.  Let the pot sit on your stove for an hour as it cools a little, before serving. By sitting for a little while, the flavors combine and this step will take your dish to the next level.

Let me know on Instagram or Pinterest if you make this.
  Post a picture and tag me @dinasdiner.  I want to know how it turns out.

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