"This curry is just so good. The paste for this recipe requires a little more effort, but you will have enough left to freeze for another day. You can use other cuts of beef, but for this curry I find that cheeks provide that absolute melt-in-your-mouth texture once slow cooked. To make this plant-based, I use tinned organic green jackfruit and cook just until the potato and jackfruit are tender."
Massaman Curry
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- Recipe Card
Prep time: 15mins
Cook time: 3hrs
Serves or Makes: 6
Recipe Card
ingredients
For the paste
- 5 large finger-length dried chillies, submerged in water
- 5 cloves
- 5 cardamom pods
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise pod
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 (2-inch) piece of fresh galangal or ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 lemongrass stalks, finely chopped (white part only)
- 5 shallots, peeled and sliced
- 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
- 1 teaspoon shrimp paste
- 2 kaffir lime leaves,
- 4 tbsp coriander stalks
- 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
- 1 tbsp peanuts
- 1/2 teaspoon whole nutmeg, grated
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
ingredients
For the curry
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 kilogram beef cheeks (approx. 3 large ones), cut into 3cm dice
- 1 large onion, halved and finley sliced
- 800 milliliter tinned coconut milk, shaken well before opening
- 500 milliliter beef stock
- 1 large potato, cut into 2cm dice
- 1 tbsp palm sugar, grated
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 peanuts, toasted and crushed
Method
For the paste
Step 1
In a dry pan, combine the soaked chillies, cloves, cardamom pods, coriander and cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, star anise, bay leaf and salt. Toast until fragrant then transfer the spices into a food processor and blitz to a fine powder.
Step 2
Add the coconut oil to a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, and cook the galangal or ginger, lemongrass, shallots, garlic and shrimp paste for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Step 3
Add the lemongrass mixture to your food processor along with the toasted ground spices and the lime leaves, coriander stalks, coconut, peanuts, nutmeg, fish sauce and three tablespoons of water. Blitz up well, for a good minute.
For the curry
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 160°c. Put your pan back on a high heat with half of the sunflower oil and add the diced beef cheek, working quickly with tongs to turn all the cubes so they seal and brown all over. Transfer them to a plate and set aside.
Step 2
Add the remaining sunflower oil to a casserole dish over a medium heat and add the sliced onion with half of your paste. Stir well and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. As it starts to cook, add half of the coconut milk and mix well.
Step 3
Add the beef stock and the beef cheeks into the casserole dish on the hob and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Place into the oven for 1 hour with the lid on.
Step 4
Remove from the oven. At this stage, taste the curry. If you would like it to have more of a kick, add a touch more paste, if it’s too spicy, add more coconut milk. Freeze your remaining paste in a sealable bag.
Step 5
Place the casserole dish back into the oven and cook for a second hour, then remove to stir it and add the remaining coconut milk, the potato, palm sugar and fish sauce. Cook for a third and final hour. As the potato cooks, it will break down and help to thicken the curry.
Step 6
Once it has had 3 hours, stir well and check that the beef cheeks are melt-in-your-mouth soft.
Step 7
If the curry looks too wet, pop it back into the oven for 30 minutes. If it’s drying out at any point, add a little more water. Serve with plain rice and top with the toasted and crushed peanuts.