Recipes, Beef Recipes

Massaman curry w/ beef shorts ribs

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Massaman curry is known throughout the world but most traditional recipes I’ve encountered are highly time consuming and complex. Don’t let that put you off as the rewards are great for those that want to make this Muslim-Thai curry at home.

At its core, my version has a curry paste that requires dry toasting the aromatic ingredients and uses various dried spices to bring deep layers of flavour. If you don’t have time to make the curry paste from scratch then use a shop-bought paste.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Curry paste ingredients

Beef short ribs ingredients

Gaeng massaman ingredients

Method

Curry paste directions:

  1. Add the lemongrass, galangal, ginger, coriander root, shallot, and garlic to a large pan or wok. Dry toast over a medium heat to give colour and evaporate some of the water content from the ingredients. This will concentrate the flavour and give a roasted, smoky flavour — about 10 minutes.
  2. Toast all the dry spices and blitz to a fine powder.
  3. Pound all ingredients in a large granite pestle and mortar until very smooth.

Beef short ribs directions:

  1. Roll the beef short rib in the fish sauce and then sear in coconut oil in a hot pan, giving a nice colour and crust to the outside of the meat. Reserve the rendered fat and oil for cooking your curry paste out later.
  2. Bring the coconut milk to a boil and set aside.
  3. Add the beef short rib to a tight-fitting oven dish, cover with the coconut milk, and add the spices and remaining ingredients. Cover with a cartouche and a lid.
  4. Place in a preheated oven (160°C) and braise for 2 hours. Check the short rib after this time. The desired cook is soft and yielding from the bone but without completely falling to pieces as the meat will be sliced to go through the finished curry. Cook for longer if necessary.
  5. Strain the braising liquor and reserve for cooking out the curry sauce later. If you want to reserve the whole dried spices, these can be added to the final curry for presentation.

Gaeng massaman directions:

  1. Add the Jersey Royal potatoes to a pan and cover with the coconut milk or water. Bring to a boil and simmer until cooked through. Set aside for later.
  2. Heat the vegetable oil in a small pan to around 150°C. In batches, add the thinly sliced shallot and stir continually. Allow to cook until golden and crispy, remove from the oil and drain well on absorbent paper. Repeat until all the shallots are fried.
  3. Combine the thick coconut cream and reserved coconut oil/rendered fat in a heavy-based pan. Warm over medium heat until the oil forms a sheen on the surface of the cream, about 2 minutes.
  4. Add curry paste and cook until fully incorporated with the cream. Continue to fry until the paste becomes fragrant and darkens — this indicates the rawness from the curry paste has been cooked out, about 5 minutes.
  5. Add the palm sugar and fish sauce and allow to cook into the paste. Then add the remaining coconut milk and beef braising stock. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 4 minutes until the sauce develops an oily sheen on the surface.
  6. At this point, you should have a medium-thick sauce that is rich in smell and colour. It will taste sweet, rich, and complex from the dried spices. Adjust the seasoning as you deem appropriate.
  7. Add the beef short rib, sultanas, and poached Jersey Royal potatoes and bring to a simmer to warm all the ingredients together.
  8. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for a minute so the flavours can develop together. Taste again and add tamarind concentrate to lighten the seasoning and make the final curry slightly fresh tasting — sweet, sour and salty.
  9. Serve garnished with a splash of coconut cream and crispy fried shallots. Eat with steamed jasmine rice.

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John is the co-founder/award-winning chef behind AngloThai, a brand that marries traditional Thai recipes with seasonal British ingredients. John’s of British & Thai heritage, so AngloThai is an instinctive concept which explores the flavours that underpinned John’s upbringing. The other half of the AngloThai duo is beverage expert Desiree Chantarasak, who’s passion for biodynamic and natural wine brings interesting and well-matched choices to the table. John has cooked internationally, most notably at acclaimed Thai restaurants, som saa in London and Nahm in Bangkok. He’s appeared on Great British Menu, and twice been shortlisted as ‘Chef of the Year’ at the Young British Foodie Awards. John’s debut cookbook, Kin Thai: Modern Thai Recipes to Cook at Home, was published in 2022, and in 2023 AngloThai will for the first time have a permanent London kitchen from which to flourish.