LEFTOVER MASSAMAN CURRY
I love making this the day after serving beef – roast
beef, steaks, even mince beef or koftas. There are a lot of ingredients, but it
really is worth it.
Serves four INGREDIENTS
For the curry paste
1 shallot
(any onion is fine, but if large,
only use half ) 1 lemongrass stalk
(a bit of dried lemongrass is
fine, or omit)
3 garlic cloves (essential, but can use purée)
25g piece of fresh ginger (essential, but can use paste,
purée or ground) 3 cardamom pods (seeds only) (or a pinch each of ground cinnamon and nutmeg)
1 star anise
(or ground star anise, or ¼ tsp
Chinese five spice)
1 tsp coriander seeds (or ground coriander or
more cumin)
1 tsp cumin seeds
(or ground cumin or more
coriander seeds)
½ tsp chilli flakes
(or chilli powder, cayenne pepper or chopped fresh chilli)
¼ tsp ground cinnamon (or a pinch of ground nutmeg)
3 dried makrut lime leaves ( just leave these out, or add
lime zest if you have some) 40g roasted salted peanuts
(any sort of peanuts, but if they’re not roasted, add salt)
1 tsp galangal paste (I’ve made this curry without and it’s really great still) 1 tsp shrimp paste
(fine to omit this)
For the curry
1 onion
(any sort of onion, or some
celery or leek) 220g leftover beef or steak (if using raw beef, cook for longer. Or use cooked chicken,
pork or lamb) 200g leftover roast potatoes
(or any cooked potato; butternut squash also works
well) Rapeseed oil, for frying 400g can of coconut milk
(essential)
2 tbsp fish sauce
(or soy sauce or tamari)
1 tsp brown sugar
(or any sort of sugar, but palm sugar is really the best)
10g coriander
(or Thai basil, parsley or even mint)
1 red chilli (optional, but more dried chilli flakes or chilli oil)
1 lime
(or ½ lemon, or omit)
METHOD
h Finely chop the shallot. Bash then finely chop the
lemongrass. Thinly slice the garlic. Slice the ginger
into matchsticks. h Add all the spices, lime
leaves and nuts to a spice grinder (or use a pestle and mortar) and blitz (or pound)
until broken down fully.
h Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over a high heat
and once hot (no oil added yet), add the ground spices, shallot, lemongrass, ginger,
garlic, galangal paste and shrimp paste. Stirring very
often, let it dry-fry for five minutes, until the chunky curry paste is very fragrant
and slightly charred too.
h Meanwhile, thinly slice
the onion, slice the beef into bite-sized strips and halve any really big roast potatoes. Add the potatoes,
onion and a glug of oil to the curry paste and fry for five minutes, stirring often
to avoid the curry paste burning – you might want to reduce the heat slightly. Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and sugar to the pan
and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and let it lightly bubble for 10 minutes.
h Roughly chop the coriander and slice the chilli. Taste the curry to check for seasoning, then
add the beef and simmer for three to five minutes, just to warm, not overcook it. Add the juice of the lime and taste again. Serve with
coriander and chilli slices.
GOES WELL WITH
Jasmine rice and cold beer.
LEFTOVERS
Heat up and make sure the whole curry is properly
piping hot.