Easy Massaman Curry สูตรมัสมั่นง่ายๆ

Massaman curry is a world-famous dish that was praised as the world's no. 1 food on multiple years on CNN Travel. It is also a popular dinner menu at our house, and my husband strongly agrees with its deserving title. Massaman curry is his favorite curry dish after all. Of all the curries, I think Massaman is surprisingly easy to make (from someone who moved from Bangkok to the US with an embarrassingly low cooking skills.) This maybe due to Massaman's key ingredients that sit in the curry to help flavor this most beloved delicacy: the potatoes and onion.

Khao Soi ข้าวซอย also happens to be one of my husband's favorite dishes. I notice the similarities between Massaman Curry and Khao Soi Curry, and have tried pairing Massaman Curry with flat egg noodles and it turned out great! Since curry always taste better the next day or two, why not switch things up and try your Massaman curry with egg noodles.

Before we start cooking, if you're new to making curry, the most important thing with any curry is knowing how to blend in the right balance of flavors between the salty and sweet (and sometimes sourness) to the curry paste proportion. Depending on how much curry you're making, the key is to continually taste, and add the missing flavors to reach the well-balanced "umami" point. Keep in mind to add water and all ingredients sparingly. Remember, you can always add more later, but it will be a lot more difficult to balance out the flavors, once you put in too much of something.

Ingredients:

- 200 g Massaman Curry Paste (this is the curry brand I use for all the curries I make) - 400 ml Coconut milk - 4 tablespoons of Fish Sauce - 1 tablespoon full of Palm Sugar (use this for all Thai curries, it makes a major difference, but you can use regular sugar to blend in the flavors at the end if your pot of curry needs it.) - Chicken thigh/ drumsticks, beef chunks, or your choice of meat (I usually put in 6-8 chicken thigh pieces) - 3-5 Potatoes (depends on the size of your potatoes or how much you love potatoes) - 1 Onion (you can use purple onion to add beautiful coloring)

- Add water as needed for preferred consistency

- Jasmine Rice

Optional Ingredients:

- A handful of peanuts

- A teaspoon of Tamarind Concentrate/ Lime Juice - Dried Chili - Lime (for squeezing over your Khao Soi)

- Flat eggs noodles (for turning the dish into Khao Soi)

- 2 Bay Leaves (Put it in for extra flavoring and aroma)

I would like to point out that I just approximated the amount of ingredients, since I don't make just one serving of curry at a time. So the key takeaway is, taste and flavor as you go along. Curries always taste so much better the next day anyway, so why just make one-meal portion?

Instructions:

0. Make yourself a drink and turn on a #goodvibesonly playlist.

1. Clean, peel, and cut up potatoes and an onion into big chunks. Put aside.

(Tip: Submerge the potatoes in water to keep them from browning.)

2. Heat up coconut milk to a boil until you see the oil layer up top.

3. Once the coconut milk boils, put in the masman curry paste and stir it in well.

4. Put in your choice of meat. Stir and let it cook for 5-10 minutes.

5. As the curry is "brewing," I put in the fish sauce and the palm sugar. (Note: If you put in fish sauce when it's not boiling or hot enough, the taste will become fishy.) I like to put in seasonings early on for the ingredients to simmer and bind together (nomnomnom.)

6. Put in the chopped onion and potatoes. Add in the bay leaves here for extra flavoring and aroma. Cover lid and cook for 15-20 minutes. In the photo I used purple onion for beautiful coloring.

8. Add in peanuts. Taste and adjust flavoring. You can add 1-2 teaspoons of tamarind concentrate here if you feel like your massaman curry needs the sourness to reach the umami point. If you don't normally cook with tamarind, you can replace tamarind concentrate with lime juice in the next step. Simmer another 10 minutes.

9. Add regular sugar or fish sauce if your curry needs it. Add 2 teaspoons of lime juice here if you want to enhance the flavors of your massaman curry. Optional: Add in dried chili for presentation.

10. Adapt Massaman Curry into a dish similar to Khao Soi ข้าวซอย by just boiling up some egg noodles or flat pasta. Warm up the massaman curry and put over the noodles. Add a bit of fish sauce (if needed) and lime juice. Bon appetit!

I hope you enjoy this easy Massaman curry recipe, and just add the extra ingredients if you can easily find them. You can support my blog by checking out my list of Thai groceries or other recommended items here.