Massaman Curry The Kinda Easy Way

Massaman Curry The Kinda Easy Way

June 20, 2012, 12:08 am
Filed under: Easy but not quick, Poultry, South Asian | Tags: coconut milk, Easy Thai cooking, Massaman Curry, thai curries

I absolutely LOVE Massaman Curry. It is the mildest of the Thai curries, and creamy, and comforting with it’s potatoes and carrot and chunks of chicken.  The first Thai curry I ever had was Massaman. The second was Green curry and I ate 2 bites before deciding it was far, far to BLASTINGLY BLAZING HOT HOLY COW PEOPLE ACTUALLY EAT THIS ON PURPOSE!  Well, I know they do. I knew a woman from Sri Lanka who went through an entire GALLON of Sriracha hot sauce in 2 months.

A long time ago I discovered Maesri curry paste. They come in all sorts of flavors. You can find them in Asian grocery stores and online here. You can also get tasty recipes at both places.

The first time I made a curry, I did it the hard way, with all the ingredients, all the fish sauce and lemon grass and stuff and boy was it good but it took forever because it was the first time I’d ever made it so I had to read the recipe every 30 seconds and make sure I didn’t leave something out.

Sometimes I don’t feel like doing that. Sometimes I want curry and I want it NOW,without having to plan a trip to Savannah for lemongrass because the freezer died and the lemongrass that was in it spoiled.  Thus, there are cans of curry paste in the pantry.

And tonight, I wanted curry. Rich, creamy curry with lots of onions and tiny potatoes from the vegetable stand and carrots from someone’s garden.  And sticky rice. Always sticky rice to soak up all that wonderful sauce.  Not the nice California brown sticky rice, either. No, the white stuff imported from Thailand that causes the person working the cash register at the Asian market to question if I am capable of fixing it properly.

And so it is…Massaman Curry with Sticky Rice, prepared in less than 10 minutes, and cooked for about an hour, while we sipped a bourbony drink and had convivial conversation.

I think it’s why God invented Summer.

Sliced carrots, tiny potatoes, 2 cans of coconut milk, and a can of curry paste.

 

 

Saute onions in a little oil until soft, then add the cut up chicken breast.

 

Mix the paste with the coconut milk. It requires careful supervision from the supervisor.

Add the sauce and vegetables to the chicken and onions. Ignore the comments about the potato booblets.

 

Take an artful picture of you eldest child catching a whiff. Then take another one after you figure out how to focus the camera.

 

While the curry simmers and rice steams, fix a couple of glasses of Adult Beverage: 3 parts gingerale, 2 parts lemonade, 1 part bourbon, and a splash of grenadine.

 

Approval from the Adult Beverage Supervisor

And it’s done. Serve on top of rice (sticky, if possible), and throw some roasted cashews on top.

 

Massaman Curry

2 onions, sliced thick

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

A bit of oil

Put the oil in the bottom of a large deep skillet,  heat up while cutting up the onion, then saute it until soft.  Add the chicken and let cook while doing the other stuff.

2 large carrots, sliced thin

2 pounds of tiny new potatoes, or red potatoes cut into bite sized pieces

2 cans coconut milk

1 can Maesri Massaman curry paste

1 cup of water

Mix the coconut milk and water with the curry paste.  Pour over the onions and chicken.

Put the carrots and potatoes in with the other stuff.

Put a lid on it, turn down to a low simmer, and mix a drink.

Let simmer about 30 minutes, then take the lid off and let it simmer uncovered for another 15-30 minutes, until the potatoes are soft and the sauce has cooked down a bit.

Serve with rice.

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