Massaman Chicken Curry

• 300g chicken thighs
• 600ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
• 4 medium potatoes
• 3 tbsp Massaman curry paste
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 tbsp palm sugar
• 3 tbsp tamarind juice
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 piece roasted cinnamon; 1cm long
• 5 roasted cardamom pods
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Whole Spices 

• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 cloves
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns

Curry Paste

• 5 shallots, with skin on
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 thumb-sized piece of galangal
• 1 lemongrass stalk, roughly chopped
• 3 dried chillies, deseeded and soaked until soft
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon shrimp paste

1. Cut the chicken into chunks, around 2 inches in length.

2. Finely chopped the garlic, galangal, lemongrass and dried chillies.

3. Cut the sweet potatoes into 2-3 cm cubes.

4. Firstly dry fry the whole spices on a low medium heat for 2-3 minutes and stir continuously so as not to burn. Heating the spices will encourage them to release their aroma, oils, and flavour. Pour spices straight into a pestle and mortar, add the ground cardamom, and pound until finely ground. Add the peeled garlic, galangal, lemongrass and shallots. Pound to a rough paste.

5. Add the soaked and drained chillies and salt together into your mortar, pound, and mix until smooth. Add the shrimp paste and continue to pound until a smooth curry paste has formed.

6. In a saucepan over medium to high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and fry the curry paste with the cinnamon, cardamom pods, and bay leaves, until fragrant. Add the chicken and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

7. Add the coconut milk a little bit at a time, mixing thoroughly before adding more milk. Pour in the tamarind juice and add the cubed potatoes. Keep over low heat to simmer until all the potatoes and chicken are fully cooked. Adjust the seasoning with fish sauce, palm sugar, and simmer for 2 minutes.

8. Remove from the heat, garnish with crushed roasted peanuts and coriander. Serve with steamed white rice

TIP: Adding the paste ingredients gradually will make pounding easier. If you want to make a batch of the curry paste, follow as per instructions and then pour the paste into an ice cube tray and freeze. This is so the paste is portioned out so you won’t have to defrost the whole batch every time you want to cook a massaman curry. The paste will last for 2 months frozen