Winter seems to have arrived in full force and I find myself craving all the hearty warming dishes I like to cook at this time of the year. It is curry weather here at the moment and I need something a little spicy to ward away the cold.

At the start of winter I went in search of a recipe for the Massaman curry paste. We all know how to make a Massaman using a jar but I wanted to be able to produce the curry with just the raw ingredients. I have now tried so many Massaman curry recipes in the search of perfection and this one is my favourite.  I found it thanks to Jimmy Seervai from MasterChef season 2.  Seems the previous seasons contestants could cook a Massaman Curry.  Was it only me screaming at the the television when everyone in the "fix the Massaman" elimination missed choosing the two core ingredients, potato and peanuts.

Although this curry is made from scratch its still quick and tasty because all the ingredients get piled into the slow cooker and forgotten about for the next 6 hours or so. The flavours develop beautifully and I am always pleased with my dinner choice as the aromas takes over the kitchen.

Luckily Massaman curry is also hubby favourite Thai dish. He usually orders either Pad Thai or the Massaman Beef Curry when we get Thai takeaway.  This recipe makes a very large quantity of curry so you should have some to freeze for those times when you don’t want to cook or you could easily halve the recipe. 

Ingredients:

1.4kg chuck steak or gravy beef diced

4 lg potatoes diced

1 lg onions finely diced

250ml beef stock

1 cup peanuts

400ml coconut milk

6 curry leaves

2 bruised cardamon pods

1-2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp grated palm sugar

1 tbsp tamarind paste

Method:

Place all the above ingredients into the slow cooker.  Set the cooker to high and cover with the lid.

Paste:

2 stalks lemongrass (the tender, inner white part only), finely sliced

6 cloves garlic, peeled

3 eschallots, peeled and sliced

1 knob ginger, peeled and sliced

1 knob galangal peeled

1 knob tumeric peeled

1 tbsp shrimp paste

3 large dried chillies, soaked in warm water*

1 chopped tomato

1 Tbs Cumin Seed

5 kaffir lime leaves

Method:

Make the paste by food processing all of the curry paste ingredients.

Fry off the paste briefly with a little bit of oil in a saucepan until there is no longer a raw smell.

Place the curry paste into the slow cooker and stir through the meat and potato.

Allow the slow cooker to remain on high for the next 8-10 hours depending on how tender you wish the dish to be.

Serve with rice and enjoy this delicious warming curry. Thank you so much to Jimmy for sharing this is the really the best Massaman Curry recipe. I really like the fact that I can now make a Massaman without a commercially purchased base paste.