Massaman Curry

There are a few dishes out there, that the first time I tried them, I wondered how I was able to enjoy life fully before I knew they existed. Pesto, for example, was one of these heavenly foods. And also avocado (I had never tried guacamole because it looked gross, and didn't first really have avocado until I was in Hawaii with my family and there was a tree with fresh ripe avocados right outside out hotel room. My father picked it, I ate it, and life was never quite the same).

One of these dishes, for me, is Massaman Curry.

Massaman is a Thai curry that is just so unique. The sauce is mainly peanut butter and coconut milk, with a heavy helping of aromatic spices such as ginger, cinnamon, cumin, and cardamom. It can be served with a variety of meats, although given the very strong flavor of the sauce, it's best with just chicken. It also usually has either potato or sweet potato, as well as other sweet vegetables such as carrots and onions.

I have never tried to make it myself, because I honestly didn't believe I could craft something so delicious. But I walked that plank tonight, I made Massaman Curry, and it was totally delicious.

I started with this basic recipe from AllRecipes. I am a very big fan of that site, at least as a good starting place for recipes, even though I rarely make things strictly according to what I find there.

I made some substitutions, and ended up making this:

Massaman Chicken
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1.5 pounds chicken breast, cut into chunked
1 large sweet potato, cubed*
Six tablespoons Patak's Tandoori paste with tamarind and ginger*
2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
1 can coconut milk*
1/3 cup natural unsalted peanut butter*
1 cup Cashews*

* I have further commentary on the starred ingredients after the recipe.

Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and curry paste, and cook for about two minutes. Then add the chicken breast and cook for about three more minutes, until the outsides have turned white. Then add the coconut milk, peanut butter, and sweet potato, stir well until blended, and bring to a boil. Then, turn down and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender (cut the chunks very small so they won't take forever to cook). Serve over rice and sprinkle with cashews.

A word on ingredients. Many restaurants make massaman with potatoes, and you can do that if you despise sweet potatoes. But I recommend trying it with sweet potatoes, even if you don't think you love them. The flavor blends so wonderfully with the peanut butter and aromatics and coconut milk, and sweet potatoes are far healthier than white potatoes. If you do decide to go the plain white potato route, you might want to add 2 or 3 tablespoons of brown sugar to the sauce, to make up for the lost sweetness.

Curry paste is a complicated thing; there are literally dozens of them, and for non-desis such as myself, it can be a bit confusing. For the massaman, you really want something with tamarind. Apparently, there is also a product known as tamarind paste, so you can either use a paste with a lot of tamarind in it (like the one I used) or pair tamarind paste with a mild curry or garam masala paste. If you are at an Indian grocery, you may want to ask the person behind the counter to help, they will probably be more than happy to (though they will inwardly despair over you inability to make a proper curry). Pick up some Mysore sandalwood soap while you're there.

The other ingredient that you may have to get at an Indian/Asian food store is coconut milk, although my grocery store has a variety available in the Asian section.

Another important ingredient is the peanut butter. Jif just isn't going to work right.You may not know it, but most commercial peanut butter it pretty disgusting and overprocessed, is half trans-fat, and has tons of added salt and sugar. All of these things will ruin your curry. I would even be careful of the 'Natural' peanut butters--they are better, but tend to be loaded with salt, which will overload the dish.

My favorite brand is Krema, which is available at my normal grocery store. I recommend it (for everything, really, not just this curry. Peanuts are yummy all by their lonesome). If you can't find it and are someone who goes to the health food store a lot, grind up some real peanut butter (Whole Foods almost all have grinders). Or, failing that, just look at the natural peanut butters that ARE at your local grocery store and find the one with the lowest sodium content.

My husband hates nuts on food. Not the flavor of nuts (so the peanut butter based sauce it no problem), just hard nuts on his food. Even the most delicious of nuts, cashews. So I didn't serve it with cashews tonight, because I wasn't going to bother getting a whole thing of cashews if no one else was going to want them except me...especially because I knew I would then gorge myself on all the rest of the cashews afterward. I don't know how wide-spread this nut-hating trait it, but if you like cashews on your food, please use them. They are delicious.

And that's all. If I make this again, I may want to add onions or carrots.

Happy Massaman!