Massaman Curry

How to make it

1. Put the dried chilies in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let them soak for 20 minutes, until they're soft and pliable all the way through. ⏱ 20 min · passive
2. Toast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, white peppercorns, and star anise in a dry skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes. Shake the pan a few times along the way. They're ready when they smell warm and nutty, and the coriander seeds are a couple of shades darker.
   Chef's tip Pull the pan off the heat the moment the coriander darkens and smells nutty — the small seeds, cumin especially, tip from fragrant to acrid within about 30 seconds, and bitterness there follows all the way into the finished pot.
3. Pound the toasted spices to a powder in the mortar for 5 minutes and grate in the nutmeg at the end. The powder should feel like coarse flour between your fingers, since whole husks and grains never soften during the simmering time.
4. Squeeze the water out of the soaked chilies and pound them in the mortar together with the lemongrass, galangal, shallots, garlic, and salt. Add the toughest parts first and a little at a time, so they don't just bounce around. Pound for 15 minutes, until the mixture is a smooth, dark red paste with no visible fibers. ⏱ 15 min
   Chef's tip Fibrous lemongrass and galangal need to go in first and alone; once softer shallot and garlic are in the mortar they cushion the blows and the fibers never break down. Salt gives the pestle grip and helps tear the cells apart.
5. Stir the shrimp paste and the spice powder into the pounded paste for 2 minutes, until the color is an even dark rust-red and the aroma is sharp and smoky.
6. Open the coconut milk without shaking the cans and skim the thick, firm layer off the top of both — about 2 dl in total — into a heavy-bottomed pot. Cook the cream over medium-high heat for 8 minutes, until it splits and the clear oil pools on the surface.
   Chef's tip Only the thick layer from the top splits cleanly; if the cans have sat somewhere cool for a couple of hours, the cream firms up and is easier to skim. The sound shifts from a bubbling huff to a dry crackle once the water has cooked off.
7. Stir the curry paste into the split coconut cream and fry it over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring. It's cooked enough when the oil separates out around the paste again, and the aroma of clove and cumin has turned rounded instead of raw.
   Chef's tip That released oil is the frying medium — the paste needs to sizzle in fat, not stew in liquid, for the harsh raw edge of shallot and shrimp paste to cook off. Listen for a steady low crackle and watch the red oil pool at the edges.
8. Toss the beef in the paste so each cube is coated, and let it cook along for 3 minutes, until the surface is grayish-brown all the way around.
   Chef's tip The meat won't brown here — it's coated in wet paste. Keep the heat at medium: the sugar and spices in the paste will scorch onto the bottom of the pot and turn bitter long before the beef would take on any color.
9. Pour the rest of the coconut milk and the 3 dl water into the pot and add the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, and bay leaves. Bring it slowly to a boil over 5 minutes, then turn it down until the surface only bubbles lazily — if the curry boils hard, the coconut milk turns grainy.
10. Cover with the lid slightly ajar and let the curry simmer for 90 minutes, until the meat falls apart at a light press with the back of a spoon. ⏱ 1 h 30 min · passive
    Chef's tip The collagen in chuck needs long, gentle heat to turn to gelatin — that's what makes the meat yielding and the sauce silky. If it still feels springy at 90 minutes, give it another 20-30; time at temperature, not the clock, does the work.
11. Add the potato and onion wedges to the simmering curry and let them cook along for 25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender all the way to the center but still hold their shape. ⏱ 25 min · passive
12. Stir in the tamarind paste, palm sugar, and fish sauce. Set aside a tablespoon of the roasted peanuts for garnish and fold the rest into the curry. Let it simmer for 5 minutes and taste: the curry should hit sweet, sour, and salty all at once, and the sauce should slide slowly off the spoon.
13. Rinse the jasmine rice in plenty of cold water for 3 minutes, until the water runs almost clear, so the grains don't stick together during cooking.
14. Put the rice in a pot with the water and salt and bring it to a boil. Then cook it, covered with a tight-fitting lid, over the lowest possible heat for 15 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed and small holes appear on the surface. ⏱ 15 min · passive
15. Take the rice pot off the heat and let the rice rest, covered, for 10 minutes. Then loosen it gently with a fork, so the grains separate without being mashed. ⏱ 10 min · passive
16. Fish the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, and bay leaves out of the curry and set the pot in the middle of the table with the reserved peanuts sprinkled over the top. Give each person a flat plate with a portion of the freshly cooked rice. Everyone ladles the curry themselves next to the rice, a little at a time, and eats with the spoon in the right hand and the fork in the left.