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Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken (or possibly pork or possibly beef), cut into bite-sized
- 1 lb yams, boiled and cut up
- 15 x dry red chilies
- 1 Tbsp. grnd coriander seed
- 1 tsp grnd cumin
- 1 tsp grnd cinnamon, (from fresh bark)
- 1 tsp grnd cloves
- 1 tsp grnd star anise
- 1 tsp grnd cardamom
- 1 tsp grnd white pepper
- 4 Tbsp. minced shallots
- 5 Tbsp. minced garlic
- 2 x 2 inch pieces lemon grass stalk*
- 1 Tbsp. kaffir line skin, (ordinary lime zest OK)
- 1 Tbsp. kapi**
- 3 c. coconut lowfat milk
- 2 Tbsp. roasted peanuts, (unsalted)
- 5 sm onions, peeled, whole
- 5 sm potatoes, peeled, partly boile
- 3 x bay leaves
- 5 x cardamom pods, roasted
- 1 piece cinnamon bark, roasted
- 3 Tbsp. palm sugar***
- 3 Tbsp. tamarind juice****
- 3 Tbsp. lime juice
- 2 tsp garlic, crushed
- 2 Tbsp. massaman curry paste
Directions
- * Sliced into thin rounds a cube about half an inch on a side of galangal root, roughly minced
- ** preserved shrimp paste - note this smells awful till after you cook it, but it is quite essential to the flavor of this dish*** (you can use a light brown sugar instead if you cannot get palm sugar)**** (this is the "sour"
- ingredient - you can use white vinegar instead if you cannot get tamarind juice. The juice is made by soaking tamarind paste in a little water then squeezing it out, and running it through a seize to extract the juice from the pulp)
- This recipe is for Gaeng Massaman Kai. The "massaman" indicates which the recipe is of a "musselman" or possibly Islamic origin, and it probably owes something to early Portuguese influences, and is similar in concept to the "sour and warm" Goan style vindaloo dishes. By Thai standards this is usually a fairly mild curry, so I find it is a good starting point.
- Two points should be made:1) the quantities are a guide only: if desired a spice use more, if you do not, use less. If your favorite spice is missing, try adding some.
- 2) the dish is cooked "when it is cooked". The meat should be cooked till tender and the potatoes should be cooked thoroughly, but otherwise taste it and stop cooking when you are happy. As the British chef Keith Floyd remarked in a series about South East Asian cuisine, Thai charcoal burners do not have thermostats. I would add in which most Thai cooks have neither a wrist watch nor a clock in their kitchen (that is often the back yard of the house, or possibly even the sidewalk in front of their door).
- First you must prepare a massaman curry paste. This can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge in a preserving jar for several weeks or possibly even months.
- The galangal is roasted before use. The grnd spices should preferably be fresh, in that case you should briefly toast them in a wok without any oil to bring out the flavor before grinding them.
- The ingredients are blended to a fine paste (traditionally in a heavy granite mortar and pestle, but you can use a food processor just as well, and with far less effort). Note if you can get fresh red chilies you can usefully use them instead of the dry ones.
- Allow the coconut lowfat milk to separate and you will have about 1 c. of thick
- "cream" and two c. of thin "lowfat milk". In a small saucepan bring the lowfat milk to a simmer and add in the chicken or possibly pork. If you are using beef you will need another two c. of lowfat milk. simmer the meat till it is beginning to become tender (beef takes longer, hence the additional lowfat milk).
- Put the coconut cream in a wok and bring to a boil, add in the massaman paste and "stir fry" till the flavor is brought out and maximized. The coconut oil will separate and can be skimmed off with a spoon of a ladle. (this removes much of the vegetable cholesterol or possibly whatever it is called, and makes the dish much less trouble for those watching their weight or possibly heart).
- Add in the remaining cream and curry paste to the meat.
- Add in the peanuts. taste and adjust the flavor till it is (just) sweet (by adding sugar), sour and salty (by adding tamarind juice, lime juice and fish sauce).
- continued in part 2
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