Cooking Lesson – Massaman Curry (มัสมั่น)

Massaman Curry is a relatively mild, but rich Thai curry which is actually a Thai interpretation of a Persian dish. You can find is as well on many menus written as Matsaman, Mussulman or even Muslim Curry since it is believed that the name refers to the Muslims.
Where the dish really originates from is disputed. Some think it is coming from Central Thailand, namely the court of Ayutthaya. Others believe that it is a Southern Thai dish, influenced by Malay and Indian cuisine.
The most common variety of Massaman Curry is Massaman Curry Chicken with other varieties being beef, duck, mutton and goat. Porc is not very often used, since it is “haram”, meaning forbidden, for muslims.
The Massaman Curry paste is quite different to the other common curry pastes in the Thai cuisine. This is due to the use of rather non typical spices in the paste like Cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, star anise, bay leaves, nutmeg and mace. These ingredients came from the Malay Archipelago and South Asia, a trade route dominated at the time by Muslim traders from the middle east. These ingredients were then combined with local produce spices which are used in the other Thai curry pastes like dried chili peppers, lemongrass, coriander seeds, shrimp paste, galangal, white pepper, shallots and garlic.
If you are a curry fan check out our other curry recipes like Phanaeng Curry, Green Curry and Yellow Curry. If you did the cooking class with Joy you should be able to prepare them after the recipe shown.

Print Recipe

Massaman Curry

Cuisine

Thai

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

25 minutes

Servings

people

Ingredients

• 200 g chicken breast in cubes
• 1 big potatoe in big pieces
• 1 big Sweet potatoe big pieces
• 1 big onions in big pieces
• 1 Lime
• 1 tbsp Massaman Curry Paste
• 400 ml Coconut milk
• 3 tbsp Oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup Water
• 3 tbsp Cooking oil

Cuisine Thai Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 25 minutes Servings people Ingredients 200 g chicken breast in cubes 1 big potatoe in big pieces 1 big Sweet potatoe big pieces 1 big onions in big pieces 1 Lime 1 tbsp Massaman Curry Paste 400 ml Coconut milk 3 tbsp Oyster sauce 1 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup Water 3 tbsp Cooking oil

Instructions

1. Heat up the oil in a suitable pan or wok
2. Add onions and potatoes and fry them until the onions are soft

   
3. Add the curry paste and mix it all up
4. Add the chicken cubes and keep stirring

   
5. Add some of the coconut milk (200ml)

   
6. Add salt and some water until everything is covered.

   
7. Bring to boil and simmer it until the potatoes are cooked - if necessary add more water and coconut milk