I have always loved Southeast Asian cuisine. And the surrounding area. I remember when I was in a Chinese restaurant for the first time many years ago. In the London district of Soho. And no wonder, there was rice as a side dish and I found a small animal in it that starts with C… So I took it out and continued eating.
The beginning was really not exciting, but over the years I have sharpened my senses.
I started cooking myself. Eventually I became so skilled that among my guests were the then Slovenian foreign minister, the former prime minister, the director of a cultural center and many others.
My records, among others, are two events at which I once cooked eighteen dishes for fifty people. The second time, two dishes for one hundred and fifty people. At the second one, my assistant was none other than the famous chef Franci Jezeršek himself.
Let’s leave that aside, today these are just memories. I cook (and experiment) more or less only for myself and my family.
So let’s get to cooking.
I recently got a packet of spices and instructions for massaman curry. Of course I had to try and cook this curry.
What is massaman curry anyway.
Massaman curry is a rich, flavourful, and mildly spicy Thai curry. It is a fusion dish, combining ingredients from three sources: Persia, the Indian Subcontinent, and the Malay Archipelago. The substance of the dish is usually based on chicken or other meat, potatoes, onions, and peanuts. The richness comes from the coconut milk and cream used as a base, as for many Thai curries.
In 2011, CNNGo ranked massaman curry as the number one most delicious food in an article titled “World’s 50 most delicious foods”
The name massaman is a corruption of the term mosalman, an archaic word derived from Persian, meaning “Muslim”.
I read this somewhere – emphatically the king of curries, and perhaps the king of all foods. Spicy, coconutty, sweet and savory, its combination of flavors has more personality than a Thai election. Even the packet sauce you buy from the supermarket can make the most delinquent of cooks look like a Michelin potential. Thankfully, someone invented rice, with which diners can mop up the last drizzles of curry sauce.
Well, finally, let’s start cooking.
You need meat – chicken, turkey, lamb, beef, whatever suits you. Spices – cinnamon, ginger, star anise, bay leaf, onion, garlic. Cashews, fish sauce, coconut milk. Potatoes, or as I added, bamboo shoots.
And of course the most important massaman curry paste. Or any other curry paste.
First, you heat the oil. When it’s hot, add the cumin and fry for two minutes. Add the chopped onion and ginger and stir for another minute.
Add the cinnamon, crushed garlic. Stir and add the curry paste.
Add the coconut milk. Mix everything together and simmer for fifteen minutes.
Add the fish sauce, a pinch of sugar and the diced meat.
Cook until the meat is tender.
I recommend boiling the potatoes separately and adding them just before the end. If you are using bamboo shoots, add them to the pan with the meat.
Serve with rice.
Tip: for vegan massaman curry use tofu or veggies instead of the chicken, and use a vegan fish sauce or lite soy sauce instead of the fish sauce.
And last but not least, let your imagination run free.
And remember, the nick name for Thailand “The Land of Smiles” isn’t just a marketing catch-line. It’s a result of being born in a land where the world’s most delicious food is sold on nearly every street corner.