Thai Massaman Curry

Categories: Chicken/Poultry, World Cuisine
Contributed by: Jacqueline&David

Here's a yummy massaman curry dish recipe we made and it really tasted like the restaurant! I have to say that it didn't start to really taste like the restaurant until we came back to dinner later in the evening. When we first tasted it, the potatoes hadn't soaked up any flavor yet and seemed 'raw'-flavored still. We left it for a couple of hours and when we came back we were both amazed at how all of the flavors had soaked into the potatoes so well.

~~Edited to add: My second time making this I decided to make the sauce and potato part the night before, then add the green beans, chicken and pineapple the night we would eat it. It was very successful this way! The potatoes had a chance to soak up the flavor. If you don't want to make it up the night before, at least do the sauce and potato part earlier the same day so they have a chance to meld more. Then when you want to cook dinner, just add the sliced chicken breast, green bean and pineapple and pineapple juice and cook only until the chicken is done. If you cook it in this manner, during the first cooking of the potato and sauce, only cook for about 10 minutes or so. The potato will finish cooking w/ the chicken and beans the next night. If using fresh instead of frozen straight from the freezer green beans, you may want to wait a couple of minutes before adding the beans once you are cooking the chicken in the mixture. I added sliced chicken and frozen green beans together and they came out great. Add the roasted peanuts right before you are going to serve it so they're crunchy.

INGREDIENTS

2-4 T massaman curry paste (I bought mine at a Thai asian market.) If you are using Taste of Thai brand pastes you may want to start at 2 and work up if you want more paste.
1 can of coconut milk
about a 1/4 cup sliced shallots or onion (shallots are more authentic)
1 T oil for cooking shallot
small handful kaffir lime leaves (maybe 7)
1 1/2 T fish sauce
about 1/3 cup chicken broth (you can use water)
several good splashes of Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce (Thai soy sauce) [You can just use regular soy sauce]
1 1/2 to 2 boneless chicken breasts or 5-6 tenderloins, cut up (we used 3 halves and slice at a sharp angle against the grain to make more tender)
a cup or thereabouts of frozen green beans (ours were whole baby green beans)
1/4-1/3 cup roasted unsalted peanuts (you can toast raw ones in toaster oven if not preroasted at 350 a few minutes to turn light-medium brown)
3-4 small (or 3 medium) peeled potatoes, cut up in bite-sized pieces
fresh cilantro torn up, long stems removed
small can of pineapple tidbits --use about 2/3 of bits and about 1/2 of the juice
brown sugar to taste (about 1 T)

DIRECTIONS

1. It's worth having all of the ingredients already ready, measured and waiting, even the amount of curry paste. (Except of course the chicken, green beans, pineapple and peanuts if you are following my method recommended. Heat the wok, add the oil and stir fry the shallots over med-high down to medium heat, but not until really brown. You are only cooking them a little before adding stuff.

2. Pour in the coconut milk and the curry paste, mix together and add fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves and the broth or water. Shake in some Golden Mountain sauce/soy sauce. Add the sugar. Add the cut up potatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes (heavy simmering--I think I actually left it on med-high?) and then take off heat if you're doing my recommended method of two-step cooking. Add the torn up cilantro before putting it in the fridge overnight or for the afternoon. If you want to make it on the spot all the way, chicken and all, you'll need to cook the potatoes a few more minutes before adding the chicken.

3. Heat the sauce back up if using my method on the night you'll serve your dish and add the chicken meat and frozen green beans. Wait a minute or two if using fresh/thawed green beans. Add the pineapple and however much of the juice you want from the can. Simmer until chicken is just cooked through. (I use a lid on pan.) Once chicken is just cooked through, add peanuts and stir everything up. Taste to see if you need more sugar and/or soy sauce.

4. Serve on jasmine rice!