Massaman Beef Curry

Name: Massaman Beef Curry (Gang Massaman)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon cumin seeds; 400 ml (1½ cups) coconut milk; 450 g (1 lb) beef chuck, cut into 3 cm (1¼ inch) chunks; 1 tablespoon coriander seeds; 60 g (½ cup) roasted peanuts; 6 garlic cloves, peeled; 2 lemongrass sticks, tender heart only; 1 tablespoon fish sauce; 3 cm (1¼ inches) galangal, skin scrubbed, sliced; 4 small shallots, peeled; 1 tablespoon tamarind paste; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; ½ teaspoon ground mace; 5 dried red Thai chillies; 2 cloves; 2 green cardamom pods; 1 tablespoon palm sugar or brown sugar; 1 star anise; 4 green cardamom pods, bruised; 4 small shallots, peeled and halved; 400 g (14 oz) waxy potatoes, cut into 3 cm (1½ inch) chunks; 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

Gang Massaman

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

The Nutmeg Trail

By Eleanor Ford

Published 2022

About

One of Thailand’s most complex and bewitching curries has a history interwoven with trade, religion, kings and explorers, only adding to its allure. Gang massaman means ‘curry of the Muslims’, reflecting its roots in the Thai Muslim community. Sweet spices not typically used in other Thai curries - cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, mace and star anise - are combined with local flavours of lemongrass, galangal and fish sauce.

Stories differ - it may have originated in the seventeenth-centu