Need a good recipe for massaman curry?

[Oxx]

I thought I'd make a chicken massaman curry and got a recipe from the Big C website.  Some of the instructions, however, are a bit perplexing:

 

"Add coconut milk to the tail. Then dim the light to lighten And then continue to simmer Until the chicken thighs are rotting"

 

"you need an omelet to scoop Massaman water"

 

I'm also a bit perplexed by fennel leaves as an ingredient.

 

Definitely a recipe to keep if you're a keen cook.

 

https://www.bigc.co.th/blog/en/make-massaman-curry-with-chicken-soft-sweet-mellow/

[BritManToo]

I just heat a bit of cooking oil in a wok, stir in the sauce, then brown the meat  (pork or chicken) then add coconut milk until it's the right shade of yellow. Everything else is thrown in after ...... diced mushrooms, potato, bell peppers. Maybe an onion and some garlic.

[RafPinto]

Here you go.

[RafPinto]

https://fromscratchfast.com/slow-cooker-vegetable-massaman-curry/

[toofarnorth]

I too love a massaman gai.  I think a little box of sauce from Lotus is about 29 B. You can add a few bits to it and enugh for a big plate of curry.    Ah the days in the mother lode , after 4 pints of proper beer off to the Golden Egg for chicken madras , bombay potatoes , mushroom bahji and pillaw rice with 2 popadoms.

One of the very few thing I miss about England .......................Indian restaurants.

[BritManToo]

4 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

One of the very few thing I miss about England .......................Indian restaurants.

All over Vietnam and Cambodia, but sadly lacking in Thailand.

I'm thinking it's to do with work permits.

No problems for an Indian family to set up a small restaurant there, impossible here.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

You can judge a lot of Thai restaurants on their Massaman. So often they are too light, thin, and taste like some generic curry. If they are not  dark, thick, a bit oily, full of good ingredients, and do not have the proper taste then don't go back.  

[sometimewoodworker]

22 hours ago, Oxx said:

Add coconut milk to the tail. Then dim the light to lighten And then continue to simmer Until the chicken thighs are rotting"

 

"you need an omelet to scoop Massaman water"

 

I'm also a bit perplexed by fennel leaves as an ingredient.

Coconut milk added at the very end of the cooking gives a much stronger coconut taste, added at the beginning and the coconut flavour disappears, also the white colour disappears.
 

Fennel leaves and root are both normal ingredients in cooking so I don’t know why you would be perplexed by them.

 

I would be more perplexed by the omelet used as a scoop ???? 

 

it’s clear that it’s a machine translation here is a slightly better one

 

i would still add some coconut milk a minute or 2 before serving.

Edited December 1, 2021 by sometimewoodworker

[Oxx]

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Fennel leaves and root are both normal ingredients in cooking so I don’t know why you would be perplexed by them.

Fennel is not used in Thai cookery at all, AFAIK.

[sometimewoodworker]

50 minutes ago, Oxx said:

Fennel is not used in Thai cookery at all, AFAIK.

The seeds are not uncommon, but as a cool weather plant the bulbs and leaves, though a normal Thai flavour are not usually used in Thailand. But in Thai cooking overseas where fennel is available it’s not an unusual ingredient.

Edited December 1, 2021 by sometimewoodworker

[Nojohndoe]

Best I have found is the LOBO brand sachet which has a simple recipe in English.

[sikishrory]

Fennel leaf as we know them in the West are not used in Thai food. 

The original untranslated text on the website is bai yeerah ใบยี่หร่า. They actually spelt it wrong with ห after the ใบ.

This is actually Ocimum gratissimum leaf. 

For some reason it is commonly translated as cumin leaf on menus in Thailand.

A spicy leaf often used in southern curries. It's really delicious used in this way and transforms the flavour of the curry.

I had a gaeng dai pla แกงไตปลา awhile ago with cumin leaf and it's probably the best curry I have had. 

I assume the Thai "yeerah" word comes from the Indian "jeera" for cumin.

Cumin is closely related with fennel which is why it is often confused I think.

It's all a bit confusing but that's what it is anyway 

https://medthai.com/ยี่หร่า/

[jvs]

Ready bought packages of the sauce you need all give me heartburn.

A friend now brings us the sauce from Malasia and it does not give me heartburn any more.

Also a trick is to not eat it the first two days,let it sit so all of the spices get into the meat and

that makes the meat really soft.

It just tastes better after two or three days in the fridge,i have tried it a lot and there are not many

restaurants that get it right.

Old grandma recipe and no skimping on ingredients is still the best,that goes for a lot of food in a lot of countries i would think.

[toofarnorth]

6 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

You can judge a lot of Thai restaurants on their Massaman. So often they are too light, thin, and taste like some generic curry. If they are not  dark, thick, a bit oily, full of good ingredients, and do not have the proper taste then don't go back.  

Thais seem to like thin curries .  I don't have any good Thai restaurants way up here but if I make a curry it is thick enough to sit atop the rice not drain through like soup. My wife says  ' Too indian '.  But then she is a bit racist when it comes to India. Sometimes she even says I need a shower , 'Strarting to smell like from India '.

[hotchilli]

On 11/30/2021 at 9:40 AM, Oxx said:

I'm also a bit perplexed by fennel leaves as an ingredient

If you're a keen cook [Thai recipes] and want to watch it done, with ingredients, method and chef's tips...

Open youtube and type "hotthaikitchen" you can search for recipes that have been covered.

[billd766]

On 11/30/2021 at 10:46 AM, BritManToo said:

I just heat a bit of cooking oil in a wok, stir in the sauce, then brown the meat  (pork or chicken) then add coconut milk until it's the right shade of yellow. Everything else is thrown in after ...... diced mushrooms, potato, bell peppers. Maybe an onion and some garlic.

I cook it slightly different to you.

 

I usually use about 2kg of pork which I sear and brown in the wok. I add 2 packs of "Lobo" massaman mix and coconut milk to cover and cook until it is bubbling

 

I peel and chop the potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and whatever else I find into a big saucepan and then add the pork, massaman and coconut into the big saucepan. Boil it up and let it simmer for a couple of hours, chuck in some fish sauce and some Worcester sauce for flavouring.

 

Reheat it for the evening meal for me and my son. There is always enough for seconds, lunch next day for me and bag the remainder to freeze for when I need something tasty for lunch for another day or three.

[Liverpool Lou]

On 11/30/2021 at 1:32 PM, BritManToo said:

All over Vietnam and Cambodia, but sadly lacking in Thailand.

I'm thinking it's to do with work permits.

No problems for an Indian family to set up a small restaurant there, impossible here.

Huh?  There's loads (Indians and Indian restaurants) in Bangkok.  Indians own a lot of Bangkok.

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Huh?  There's loads (Indians and Indian restaurants) in Bangkok.  Indians own a lot of Bangkok.

Nothing worthwhile in Chiang Mai.

And what there is very expensive.

[CharlieH]

Just buy the Masaman Curry paste from Makro its great ! All you need to add is coconut milkany ingredients chicken potatoe etc, job done !

[sometimewoodworker]

On 11/30/2021 at 1:32 PM, BritManToo said:

I'm thinking it's to do with work permits.

No problems for an Indian family to set up a small restaurant there, impossible here.

Some of the best Indian food I’ve eaten I got in Bangkok in the little India area near Chinatown 

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Some of the best Indian food I’ve eaten I got in Bangkok in the little India area near Chinatown 

Sadly I live in Chiang Mai, and the only time I ever stopped in Bangkok was for a connecting flight somewhere else. Siam Reap and Phnom Penh had an Indian restaurant on every street corner. Almost the same in Saigon.

Edited December 1, 2021 by BritManToo

[billd766]

4 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Huh?  There's loads (Indians and Indian restaurants) in Bangkok.  Indians own a lot of Bangkok.

But few in the provinces unless they are tourist cities such as Pattaya and CM that I know of. In Kamphaeng Phet province I don't know of any.

 

I haven't been to Pattaya or CM for few years but with Covid, who knows if they are still going.

Edited December 1, 2021 by billd766
Added extra text

[billd766]

4 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Just buy the Masaman Curry paste from Makro its great ! All you need to add is coconut milkany ingredients chicken potatoe etc, job done !

I use Lobo from Big C.

[billd766]

7 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Sadly I live in Chiang Mai, and the only time I ever stopped in Bangkok was for a connecting flight somewhere else.

I found these on Trip advisor.

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g293917-c24-Chiang_Mai.html

 

 

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Sadly I live in Chiang Mai, and the only time I ever stopped in Bangkok was for a connecting flight somewhere else. Siam Reap and Phnom Penh had an Indian restaurant on every street corner. Almost the same in Saigon.

I have found about 30 Indian restaurants or restaurants serving Indian food in Chang Mai, so while not that common they don’t seem to be rare. 

[sharksy]

However you make it, please add Tamarind Sauce or paste.  For me, it is the essential ingredient which gives the Massaman curry "depth".

 

It's got to the state where I cook massaman better than the restaurants (according to people who have tasted mine), in the UK.

[Thailand J]

13 minutes ago, sharksy said:

However you make it, please add Tamarind Sauce or paste.  For me, it is the essential ingredient which gives the Massaman curry "depth".

Next time I cook Massaman I will try tamarind.  Ginger ( the regular one, not galanga) is the essential in my Massaman.

[GammaGlobulin]

I love Lamb Vindaloo.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carne_de_vinha_d'alhos

Edited December 3, 2021 by GammaGlobulin