A Massaman curry will always be one of my favourite dishes. Rich and creamy and ideal for a feast. My problem is that when I feel like a Massaman curry I often find myself unable to decide between Lamb Shank Massaman, Chicken Massaman or this Beef Massaman. Sometimes my decision might be influenced by the time available to me because a Beef Massaman should never be made with a lean quick cooking cut of steak. Instead, it benefits greatly by being cooked with a far tougher cut of beef that will require long slow cooking in the sauce to the point where it is just about to fall apart. For this reason, I use a cut such as beef shin or at least braising steak to make this dish. I’m often asked about using a slow cooker for Thai curries, any recipe using coconut milk in a slow cooker has to be adapted so please read this article here first. Slow cooker curry. Make sure you’re using the “right” type of coconut milk as it will make or break this or any other coconut based curry. Quick guide here, Coconut Milk Summaryor if you would like to see the difference between different brands of coconut milk the full article is here,Cooking Thai Curry with Coconut Milk. I’m using around 500 g of beef and about 200 g of small potatoes, a can of coconut milk and one pouch of Massaman paste. If you want to garnish it as in the photo above then you will also need an onion and some peanuts. The pastes are complete but it is always a good idea to have a little lime juice to hand to adjust sweetness, if needed, to your personal taste at the end of cooking. You also adjust saltiness by adding a little more fish sauce or salt if required.
Halve the potatoes and sauté in a little oil until quite brown. Don't peel the potatoes but cook them in their skins to stop them breaking down later in the sauce.
Sauté some thinly sliced onion (if using) until crisp and brown and leave to dry on kitchen paper.
Remove the potatoes from the pan and add the beef. Sauté until nicely browned.
Remove beef from pan and reserve.
Add the Massaman curry paste to the pan and heat for a couple of minutes. Add the can of coconut milk.
Bring coconut milk to the boil and then reduce heat.
Add meat to pan and stir through.
Add potatoes to pan and then cover. Cook on a very low heat until meat is tender stirring from time to time topping up liquid level with water if needed. You can also cook in the oven at 170C. Cooking time can take 2-3 hours depending on the cut of meat. When meat is tender enough turn off the heat and allow to sit for five minutes. Some oil will probably have separated from the coconut, if so you can use a spoon to skim off the excess, however you should leave some oil behind for an authentic Massaman.
Serve and enjoy!
Enjoy!
If you like this recipe please click the star rating or add a comment below! Kop Khun Kha, Nitsa.x
Rich and creamy and fragrantly spiced, a Beef Massaman curry is best cooked with a tough cut of beef until it’s ready to fall apart in the sauce. If you want to use a slow cooker then check the notes at the end of the recipe. Otherwise this can be cooked on the hob or in the oven.
Sauté some thinly sliced onion (if using) in vegetable oil until it is brown and crisp and leave to dry on kitchen paper.
Halve the potatoes and sauté in a little oil until quite brown. Don’t peel the potatoes but cook them in their skins to stop them breaking down later in the sauce.
Remove the potatoes and set aside and add the beef. Fry at quite a high heat until nicely browned.
Remove the beef from the pan and set aside.
Add the Massaman curry paste to the pan and heat until it starts to bubble. Add the can of coconut milk, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat.
Add the beef to the pan and stir through.
Add the potatoes to the pan and then cover. Cook on a very low heat until the meat is tender, stirring from time to time to prevent burning. Top up the liquid level with water if needed.
You can also cook in the oven at 170C/Gas Mark 4. The time taken to cook will depend on the cut of beef, this could be up to 3 hours for a cut like shin beef so check the tenderness from time to time.
When the meat has reached the desired stage of tenderness, turn off the heat and allow to stand for five minutes. Some oil may have separated from the coconut and if you wish you can skim off the excess with a spoon. However, an authentic Massaman should always be left with some oil.
Adjust seasoning if required.
Garnish with the onions and peanuts if using and serve with Jasmine rice.
Recipe Note
As always using the “right” type of coconut milk is a
game-changer. See here.
If you want to
use a slow cooker for this recipe then please check out this link.
You certainly can prepare this the day before, refrigerate, and reheat the next day. Actually, as is the case with most curry’s they taste even better the day after. Hope that helps😊
Nitsa
Nicola Phillips
February 24, 2023
Please can I ask if this curry is ok to be made the day before and reheated?
Matthew
October 15, 2022
Delicious sauce.
It does however need a fair amount of lime juice and fish sauce to finish it off.
Chris
April 25, 2020
What a fantastic paste! We often cook beef Massaman, using a tried and tested recipe but with a supermarket paste.
After ordering a few other pastes from this website (I can vouch for red, yellow and southern green as amazing!) we added this Massaman paste to our recipe and it’s transformed the curry to another level. I am now a repeat mythaicurry offender and am recommending to all my pals
Andy
September 04, 2019
Cooked this recently, it was very tasty, my wife really enjoyed it as it was very mild. I shall have to order more of them.
simone w
November 26, 2018
I cooked this curry for a group of friends (along with the hot thai green and the red thai) and they all went down a storm! This one is milder than the other 2 and a wonderful creamy flavour and so easy to do thanks to the recipe! I trebled the ingredients and it worked so well. I had so many comments on all 3 curries that after a few glasses of wine I admitted I used this site for the pastes and now all my friends are going to order! I don’t usually leave reviews but had to say how lovely and varied all 3 pastes are and excellent communication via email too to advise. Thanks!
I firmly believe that Khao Soi should be ranked as one of the world's great dishes. You can call it a curry or you can call it a noodle soup and it is both of those with more on top, literally on top! A broth of aromatic curry paste and orange-tinged coconut milk with tender chicken falling apart for you, boiled noodles lurking underneath and becoming coated with fragrant oil as they break the surface. Crispy noodles on top you can manipulate and dunk into the sauce,
This is a totally delicious way to serve roast chicken as well as being very simple to prepare. Cooking a whole chicken this way is practised in various forms throughout Asia, sometimes pot roasted, sometimes over hot coals and with many different curry pastes. Often cooked in the home, rather than restaurants, which is probably the reason why many Westerners are not familiar with the dish. Well, now is the time to change that and I promise you that you won't regret it!
This is a dish that is incredibly easy and quick to prepare. If you have a bag of frozen seafood in the freezer and the whole dish can come together in the time it takes to cook the rice. Talking of rice, I find myself increasingly turning to black rice
I used my pastes for the first time last week and invited 8 friends round for supper - I made chicken satay , weeping tiger steak, monkfish red curry and chicken Panang - everyone abseloutely loved it - delicious ! Xx
Having just shared the Panang Curry with my daughter we both found it delicious. We used king prawns with montuno and baby corn. Will look forward to tucking into another soon .Thank you.
No more shall be buying a jar from the supermarket, we have been looking for this and now we have found it without having to buy and pound our own ingredients
Nitsa Takhiansok
February 24, 2023
You certainly can prepare this the day before, refrigerate, and reheat the next day. Actually, as is the case with most curry’s they taste even better the day after. Hope that helps😊Nitsa