Massaman curry

Hello handbag skeptics!

In keeping with the Thai theme, today's entry is massaman curry. I have actually never heard of this dish before today. I only stumbled upon it while I was googling for some Thai recipes.

Apparently, cnngo.com rate the massaman curry as the best dish in the world! I understand that the ranking is probably very subjective when you consider regional tastebuds and national attachments and so on, but to make it to number one is no small feat. Furthermore, i am intrigued by this new discovery. I have never seen this curry on a Thai menu before, so it makes sense for me to try it. 

After a few youtube videos later, I started to understand what this dish is all about and why it may well be the best dish ever. It is served prominently in the southern part of Thailand by the largely Malay community. It is unique because the dish is synthesized from 3 regions. Indian, Malay and Thai cooking. It has signature ingredients from Indian and Thai curries, but the method is very traditional Malay. It is very similar to a 'masak lemak' or 'lontong' soup, but with a stronger spice base and sweeter aftertaste. If I could pick a dish that resembles it the most, I would probably say Portugese Devil's curry.

So the ingredients separated into 2 sections; spice blend and you know, other ingredients (words they escape me)

Spice blend (bbc.co.uk)

15 dried red chillies

2 stalks of lemongrass

Galangal (8slices)

4 cloves of garlic

1 medium onion

1 tbsp shrimp paste (belacan in a curry? What?)

1 tbsp fish sauce

Grind these in a spice mixer; alternatively you can buy the preground versions bit as always fresh is better:-

Cinnamon stick 1tbsp

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp coriander seeds

3 cloves

4 black peppercorn

Mix all the above ingredients in a blender with enough water to make a thick paste. Smell that, it smells amazeballs.

Ok I'll mention other ingredients as we go along.

1. Heat 250ml of fresh coconut milk in a pot on low heat. Stir occasionally until you see some oil starting to come out of the coconut milk. This is called 'splitting' or 'breaking'. You'd need this oil for cooking the spice.

2. Pour about 250ml of the spice blend into the pot with the split coconut oil and cook the spice for a few minutes. If you are familoar with Malay recipes, this stage is crucial. First you want to fully cook the spices and the chili to release its flavor. Secondly you must ensure there's enough loquid in the pot to stop it from drying out and burning. So keep an eye on it. Once you see a dark film of reddish oil surfacing on top of the paste, then you know you're ready for the next stage.

3. Put the meat in. In this case I am using chicken thighs.cook the chicken with the spice blend for few minutes. Make sure it coates every single piece.

4. Pour in 250ml of fresh coconut milk (so in total you'd need about 500ml), 2 tbsp of fish sauce, 2 tbsp of tamarind paste, and 1 tbsp of palm sugar (i used brown sugar). You can add potatoes at this stage.

5. Simmer the curry for 20-30 minutes on low heat until the potatoes are soft and the chicken is tender as f*ck. Adjust taste using fish sauce and tamarind paste. The sauce should not be very thick but not broth thin. Well, it is really up to you I guess. 

Verdict

It is a very tasty dish I mist admit. Pair it with white rice and you have a winner. Is it number 1? Hard to say. But I can see why people outside of Asia might like it. It has that authentic Malay curry taste and smell, but without the face melting effect of hot chillies. Like I said earlier, if you're from Malaysia, dishes like this can be found in almost every state. You can compare it to devil's curry, gulai nasi dagang, penang masak merah, the curry for curry mee in Penang, and many others across the country. But none of them uses fish sauce as a replacement for salt and I think that adds an extra savoury tone to the gravy. 

Give it a try, it might not be alien to our Malaysian tastebuds, but it is certainly a refreshing take on something familiar.