Name: Mussaman-style Beef Curry
Yield: Serves 4–6
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons Madras curry paste or powder; 900 ml (1½ pints) tinned coconut milk; 3 tablespoons palm sugar or plain sugar; 2 teaspoons shrimp paste; 2 tablespoons lime juice; 3 tablespoons thinly sliced shallots; 3 tablespoons fish sauce or light soy sauce; 3 tablespoons chopped roasted salted peanuts; 6 cardamon seeds; 1.4 kg (3 lb) stewing beef, such as brisket or shin; 2 cinnamon sticks; 3 bay leaves; 2 tablespoons groundnut (peanut) oil; 225 g (8 oz) small new potatoes; ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preparation info

Serves
4–6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Ken Hom Cooks Thai

By Ken Hom

Published 2001

About

‘Mussaman’ is the Thai corruption of the word ‘Muslim’. Containing as it does spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and other sweet seasonings that are absent from the Thai canon, it is obviously of Indian provenance. As with curries in general, it was carried to Thailand and elsewhere by Indian traders and enjoyed at first only by Indian clerks and minor officials, Muslim or not, posted to the country. Thai cooks rapidly naturalized this curry, integrating it into the cuisine. Such a curry goes