Lamb Massaman Curry
September 20, 2016
3 Comments
See also Beef Massaman.
Lamb massaman curry is a truly luxurious dish. Lamb Shanks cooked in a massaman sauce become meltingly tender and the spices blend so harmoniously with the lamb it truly is a perfect match. This is an oven cooked dish requiring around 3 hours cooking time. If you are thinking of using a slow cooker, then please check out this link as the recipe would need to be adapted. This is not an everyday curry so personally, I would stick with the oven for best results.
For 2 lamb shanks I'm using one pouch of massaman paste, 1 can of coconut milk and around 200g of small potatoes. A small handful of peanuts, you can either shell them or if you only have salted peanuts you can rinse off the salt and leave to dry on kitchen towels. Of course if you have raw peanuts you can pan roast them for a few minutes. You will also need an onion if you want to garnish it as in the above picture. 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.
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 Summary or 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.
Place lamb shanks in casserole and surround with the potatoes, some of the fried onion and peanuts.
Heat the massaman sauce in a pan and add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer.
Pour onto the lamb and potatoes.
Top up with water if needed until the meat and potatoes are covered.
Cover and cook for around 3 hours at 150C. Check on it around halfway to make sure the liquid is not evaporating too fast which can happen if the casserole lid is not a good fit. At the end of cooking time check meat is tender, also that the potatoes are cooked correctly, if not then put back in oven for another 30 minutes. Stir the pan to mix in any oil that may have separated or skim off some oil if there is too much. Let the lamb rest in the covered casserole pot for 10 minutes before serving. Note, this can be cooked on the hob under a very low heat but you will have to check and stir from time to time to prevent sticking. I find that the oven works better for me.
Enjoy!
UPDATE. Comments box added.
3 Responses
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
Also in Recipe Blog
August 31, 2020
This is such a quick and easy dish to make and yet so versatile and packed full of flavour. You can substitute prawns for chicken and mix and match on the veggies as well, whatever way you do it you’re in for a treat! Using the quantities below this will easily serve 3 hungry people, but it also scales up easily and you..
Continue Reading
February 10, 2020
5 Comments
(Updated). Meltingly tender duck combines wonderfully with the sharp and sweet flavours of pineapple and coconut in a Thai red curry sauce. I’m not normally a fan of pineapple in savoury dishes (put it on my pizza at your own risk!) but it really does work with this dish. I used to cook this with duck legs but so many people have told me they prefer to use duck breast so I have updated the recipe to reflect that fact. This also has the benefit of allowing the breast to be served pink with the...
Continue Reading
February 02, 2020
These pork and lemongrass meatballs provide a wonderful contrast to the Thai red curry sauce. Really easy to make and as a red curry is one of the milder curries this can be enjoyed by the whole family. A big pot of them also goes down well at summer barbecues, assuming summer arrives:-)
Continue Reading
Gina Dean
March 25, 2019
Thank you so much. I first experienced this Massaman Lamb Shank at a Giggling Squid restaurant and then at Patara in Soho, the latter being particularly heavy on the purse! Subsequent attempts to recreate this dish at home were a dismal failure, I tried making my own paste, not great and a lot of effort, supermarket pastes awful, really not something I was going to waste lamb in the moment I tasted them. Your paste was a revelation, I had no hesitation the moment I opened the packet and the end result was simply incredible. Going on to try the rest of the pastes I ordered but have to say you have a mountain to climb to beat this!