Chicken Massaman Curry Recipe from Scratch

There’s no hiding of our love for South East Asian food. Once a weeknight, we end up making a curry. Fortunately, from Anindya’s travels and several friends in South East Asia, I am never out of stock of different curry pastes. Using a curry paste is easy and effortless cooking. It is great for weeknights, when you have been literally running about like a headless chicken and want an easy meal for the night. Having said that, sometimes, there are curries you want to have and the pantry doesn’t present itself with an easy solution. Like this time, when I was particularly craving for a Chicken Massaman Curry.

Compared to a Thai green curry or a red curry paste, Massaman curry paste is not that easily available. And unlike these, Massaman curry paste does have a lot of spices but is mild in heat. Initially I used to think that Massaman curry is a Malaysian dish. On a google search, I was confirmed that it is a Thai curry of Muslim origin. I have a few books on Indonesian cuisine but couldn’t get any details on this particular curry. So, like me, you can check online on wikipedia for information on Massaman curry. One thing I can say for sure, it is just too delicious.

Curry Paste from Scratch for Chicken Massaman Curry

As I said before, Massaman curry has a muslim origin. Hence, it is most commonly cooked with chicken or beef and sometimes, lamb. You will never find a pork massaman curry. Having said that, you can make the curry paste and store it in the refrigerator. You can later, use the paste to make chicken massaman curry or even vegetarian massaman curry. However, massaman curry paste has shrimp paste. So you will have to omit the shrimp paste and the fish sauce in the gravy to get a vegetarian version of massaman curry.

The basic ingredients for a Massaman curry paste are Galangal, Lemon Grass, shallots, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, dried red chillies, cardamom, nutmeg, mace, cloves, cinnamon, garlic and shrimp paste. Well, after doing an extensive research online, I finalised on the recipe of the paste from the label of one of the Massaman curry paste jars sold online.

Using Substitutes and Making the Paste

You can easily use susbtitutes for the curry and the paste. Most of the ingredients are available in Asian grocery stores and stores selling exotic ingredients. However, sometimes, we just have to find a way to substitute without much altering the taste. You can use ginger instead of galangal. If you cannot find shallots, use red onions or other onions. Essentially, all the ingredients are pounded in a mortar and pestle and stored. If you want to store for a longer period, then I suggest frying the paste in oil and then storing it.

Serving and Storing Chicken Massaman Curry and the curry paste

The best way to savour a massaman curry is with steamed rice. You can store Massaman curry in the refrigerator for upto a week. I wouldn’t suggest freezing the curry. It’s a coconut curry and the texture changes on freezing. You can of course, store your massaman curry paste (the fried one) for a long time in the refrigerator.

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