James Kenji Lopez-Alt
patreon
Beef Massaman Curry
🕑 Added 2024-04-10 08:11:51 +0000 UTCServes 6
Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 4 hours
Note: You can use 4 pounds (1800g) bone-in stew beef, such as short ribs or oxtails in place of the boneless stew beef in this recipe.
Server with plenty of steamed jasmine rice and eat with a spoon and a fork, using the fork to push rice and curry into the spoon, then lifting the spoon to your mouth.
1 (15 ounce; 445ml) can full fat coconut milk, unshaken
4 ounces (150g) massaman curry paste (store-bought such as Maesri or homemade, such as Hot Thai Kitchen's excellent recipe
3 pounds (1350g) boneless stew beef, such as chuck or flap meat, cut into 2-inch chunks (see note)
2 tablespoons (30ml) Thai shrimp paste (optional)
1 large onion (about 8 ounces; 225g), cut into 1/4-inch slices
4 medium yukon gold potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds; 675g), peeled, if desired, and cut into rough chunks
2 tablespoons (30ml) fish sauce
2 tablespoons (25g) palm sugar (or any other type of sugar you'd like)
1/2 cup (60g) raw or roasted peanuts
2 tablespoons (30ml) tamarind concentrate (or lime juice)
Steamed jasmine rice for serving
1. Spoon a few tablespoons of the creamy white fat from the top of the can of coconut milk into the bottom of a large Dutch oven or wok (reserve the rest of the can). Heat the fat over medium-high heat until it separates into clear coconut fat and white coconut solids. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the coconut solids have a nutty aroma and turn golden brown, about three minutes total.
2. Immediately add the curry paste and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste darkens in color and the fat that breaks out is a deep red, about 1 minute.
3. Immediately add the beef and cook, stirring, until it’s coated in the curry paste. Add the rest of the can of coconut milk. Refill the can with water and add that to the pot as well. Add the shrimp paste and stir everything to combine. Bring to a bare simmer, cover, and cook, adjusting the heat to maintain a very bare simmer, until the beef is starting to become tender but still shows some resistance when poked with a fork, about 2 hours.
4. Add the onion, potatoes, fish sauce, palm sugar, and peanuts, and return to a a bare simmer. Cover and continue to cook until the potatoes, onions, and beef are fully tender (a chunk of beef should hold its shape but pull apart easily when you pull it with two forks), about half an hour longer. Stir in the tamarind paste or lime juice. Season to taste with more fish sauce or salt.
5. Serve with steamed jasmine rice, or better yet, let it cool completely overnight and gently reheat it the next day before serving with steamed jasmine rice.
Comments
Ketan Krishna
Hi Kenji! Your book has an amazing congee recipes, it’s my favorite section. Please make a video too!
Vivek
Great recipe! Fun to make on a cold SF day. Question: I notice that the meat is never salted directly, and even though I seasoned at the end, the beef hasn’t really picked it up. Will this just take care of itself in the fridge overnight? And is there a reason we’re not salting the meat prior to cooking it in the curry paste in the beginning?
Shawna
My beef is simmering right now and smells great (thanks, Kenji!). My family has seafood allergies, so I didn't use the shrimp paste but did toss in extra vegetarian fish sauce and some MSG - which I hope will replace some of the salty/umami/MSG-y flavors that we'll be missing.
Cookin' With Squirrl
Curry always seems like this super complex thing but every time I make or see someone make a curry I am reminded of how simple they really are if you are using a quality premade curry paste. Nicely done, sir!
Cookin' With Squirrl
I know tri-tip can be smoked so you could probably use that here instead of chuck but I'd definitely stay away from tenderloin. Tenderloin is so lean and with almost no connective tissue that it doesn't do well in long slow cooks like this.
Cookin' With Squirrl
Of course! Recipes are just starting points :-) Rarely can something not be modified to your taste. I wouldn't say that nam prik pao hits the same notes as shrimp paste so you might want to consider some extra fish sauce maybe.
Angel
Do you make your own tamarind concentrate or do you buy the jarred ones? If jarred is there a brand you would recommend?
Patreonus Rex
This right here is the s-tier of curry. Question-- would this also work (or really any stew, I suppose) with something like tri-tip? Or if you were a complete madlad, and wanted to use tenderloin, would you just cook it for less time? Thanks Kenji. <3
megarust
Love massaman curry. Will have to give this one a whirl. Hoping to do the sheet pan chicken tonight for the first time!
Andrei
Could you use nam phrik phao instead of the shrimp paste? And maybe reduce a bit the amount of palm sugar and tamarind?
