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    Dinner · Thai

    Beef massaman curry

    Beef chuck simmered until it falls apart, in a mild coconut curry built on a charred, hand-ground spice paste. Slow, fragrant and worth the afternoon.

    Prep
    30 minutes
    Cook
    2 hours
    Makes
    4 portions
    Difficulty
    Hard
    Beef massaman curry

    In one portion

    These are the figures for one medium portion. In Susten, each person at your table gets their own portion size.

    To see how one portion fits your day, work out your daily calories and protein.

    Calories
    791kcal
    Protein
    39g
    Carbs
    60g
    Fat
    43g

    Where the calories come from

    • Protein 20%
    • Carbs 31%
    • Fat 49%
    Fibre
    4 g
    Sugar
    6.1 g
    Salt
    2.14 g

    What it costs at Tesco

    Susten matches every ingredient to a Tesco product. Your shopping list names each one, with its price.

    £3.04a portion

    We base this on how much of each product the recipe uses. Half a pack costs half the price.

    We last updated these Tesco prices on .

    Ingredients

    Amounts for
    • 1 stalk of lemongrass, outer layers removed, white part finely chopped
    • 6 dried red chillies, deseeded
    • 4 shallots, peeled
    • 5 cloves of garlic, unpeeled, charred then peeled
    • 4g galangal, peeled and sliced
    • 3 tbsp water, for the paste
    • ½ tsp ground cloves
    • ¾ tsp ground cumin
    • ¾ tsp ground coriander
    • ½ tsp ground cardamom
    • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
    • 640g beef chuck, cut into large cubes
    • 300ml reduced salt beef stock
    • 2 dried bay leaves
    • 35ml vegetable oil
    • 240ml coconut milk, full fat
    • 1 cinnamon stick
    • 1 pod of star anise
    • 1 tsp tamarind paste
    • 1 tbsp fish sauce
    • ⅔ tbsp sugar
    • 1 ¼ potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
    • 1 ¾ tbsp peanuts, roughly chopped
    • 180g jasmine rice, to serve

    Method

    1. Save the trimmings as you trim the lemongrass, because they go in with the beef. Keep the white part for the paste, chopped finely.

    2. Put the lemongrass trimmings, bay leaf, beef stock and beef chuck in a medium saucepan. Add water if needed, so the liquid almost covers the beef.

    3. Heat it on the hob until it boils, then turn it down to a gentle simmer. Leave it for 90 minutes to 2 hours, until a fork slides easily into the beef.

    4. Lift the beef out and set it aside. Simmer the liquid down if there is more than 350ml, then keep it for the sauce.

    5. Next, get a heavy, dry pan smoking hot over a high heat. For about 90 seconds, char the galangal, garlic and shallot in it, then take them out. Give the dried red chillies just 10 seconds a side to char, then remove them too.

    6. Once they are cool enough to handle, shake the seeds from the chillies, peel the garlic and grate the galangal.

    7. Give the pan a wipe and turn the heat to medium. Toast the ground cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, cumin and cloves in it for 30 seconds until fragrant. To stop them cooking, tip them straight into a bowl.

    8. Blitz the chillies finely in a blender first. Then add the water, garlic, shallot, toasted spices, chopped lemongrass and galangal, and blend again until the paste is smooth. If it needs loosening, add a little more water.

    9. Get the vegetable oil hot in a large pot over a medium-high heat. Fry the paste in it for 3 minutes, until it has thickened and gives off a strong aroma, with no wet liquid left in the pot.

    10. Pour in the coconut milk and stir, then add the saved braising liquid, star anise and cinnamon stick. Over a medium heat, simmer for 3 minutes.

    11. Stir through the sugar, fish sauce and tamarind paste.

    12. Tip in the potato. Turn it every so often as it cooks for about 7 minutes, until tender.

    13. Get the jasmine rice on while the curry finishes, cooking it as the packet says.

    14. Put the beef back and let it simmer for 2 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Taste it: it should taste sweet and sour first, salty second. Adjust with extra tamarind, sugar or fish sauce.

    15. Ladle the curry onto the rice. Finish with a scatter of chopped peanuts.

    Adapted from RecipeTin Eats

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