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Massaman Curry Paste

Massaman Curry Paste packs a wonderful, deep, complex, yet mellow, flavour punch. Massaman curries originated in Thailand and are slow cooked, coconut milk based curries, loaded with potatoes and fall apart meat - normally beef or lamb. They are mildly spicy but with complex, deep, layers of flavour.

Cuisine Thailand
Keyword curry paste, Massaman
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Author Susan

Ingredients

  • 3 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
  • 2 heads of garlic
  • 80g peeled red onion, cut into large chunks
  • 4g dried red chillies - around 5-10 depending on size
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (Or use ½ teaspoon ground cumin)
  • 1 tablespoon coriander seeds (Or use ½ tablespoon ground coriander)
  • 4 black peppercorns
  • 2 cloves
  • ½ teaspoon ground cardamom (Or grind the seeds from cardamom pods)
  • 1 teaspoon white peppercorns (Or replace with black peppercorns)
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 10g lemongrass, trimmed and roughly chopped (around 1 stalk) (Or use equivalent lemon grass paste. See bottle for details.)
  • 15g galangal, sliced – no need to peel. (Or use equivalent galangal paste. See bottle for details.)
  • 1¼ teaspoons shrimp paste (Or use 1 anchovy)
  • ½ teaspoon fine salt

Instructions

  1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.

  2. Preheat the oven to Fan Oven 180°C /200°C/400°F/Gas 6

  3. The garlic: slice the top quarters off the whole bulbs of garlic. Put each garlic in the centre of a piece of foil. Loosely gather the foil around the garlic and pour over ½ teaspoon of vegetable oil over each bulb.

  4. Seal the foil around the top of the garlic and put in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool in the foil.

  5. The onions: put the peeled onions in the centre of another piece of foil. Loosely gather the foil around the onions and pour over 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil.

  6. Seal the foil around the top of the onions and put in the oven for 30 – 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool in the foil.

  7. The chillis: put the dried chillies in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for 30 minutes to soften.

  8. The paste: heat your frying pan to medium hot and add the cumin, coriander, black peppercorns, cloves, cardamom, white peppercorns and cinnamon. Cook for 15 – 20 seconds, stirring, until fragrant. Tip into a spice grinder and process until they are a powder.

  9. Now prepare lemongrass and galangal and transfer to the food processor:

    - lemongrass – trimmed and roughly chopped

    - galangal – sliced

    - Blitz until finely chopped.

  10. Now add remaining ingredients:

    - remove the stems from the softened dried chillies and add

    - shrimp paste

    - salt

    - squeeze the garlic confit out of the cloves into the food processor

    - add the roast onions.

  11. Blitz your paste until smooth. You may need to stop the processor from time to time and scrape down the sides of the jug/bowl.

  12. Transfer to a sterilised jam jar, seal and store in the fridge.

  13. Alternatively freeze. I use 100g in my Beef Massaman Curry for 4 people and always make at least a double portion of paste. I weigh it into 100g portions and freeze. I freeze them in silicone muffin trays and transfer the frozen pastes to bags when solid.

  14. NB You may find it easier to use a hand held blender

Recipe Notes

Equipment:

  • kitchen scales and measuring spoons
  • chopping board and knife
  • foil
  • baking tray
  • frying pan
  • small bowl
  • food processor or hand held blender