During our cooking course in Chiang Mai, we asked the course director if we could make Massaman Curry. The course director looked at me quizzically and asked: “do you have a sweet tooth?” “Yes,” I said. And then he said: “Do you really like potatoes?” “Yes,” I said, as I started to get nervous about the intensity of this dish. The name is also promising, in our mother tongue Dutch, Massaman means something along the lines of a really massive man. How intense was this dish going to be? Very, it turned out. If you have already eaten, it is hard to eat. But if you are hungry it can be the best thing you’ve tasted in years. Enjoy!

If you want to make the curry paste yourself, this is how it goes:

Ingredients:

• 5 small dried red chilies
• 3 chopped shallots
• 2 pieces of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp of chopped galangal (Thai ginger)
• 1 tbsp of chopped lemon grass
• ½ tbsp shrimp paste
• 1 tsp chopped kaffir lime peel
• 1 tsp fresh or dried coriander root
• 1 tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp coriander seeds
• ½ cumin seeds
• ¼ dried pepper corn
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp cardamon
• 1 tbsp cloves

How to make it:

1. Put all of these ingredients in a blender and blend well
2. Or, for a more traditional approach, pound it with a mortar and pestle
3. But if you are lazy, just go to an Asian specialty shop and find yourself some Massaman Curry Paste

How to make Massaman Curry:

Ingredients:

• 100 g boneless chicken breast (sliced thin so as to cook quickly in the wok)
• 1 tbsp Massaman Curry Paste
• 1 cup of boiled potatoes
• 1 cup of sliced pineapple
• 1 shredded onion
• 250 ml of coconut cream
• ½ cup of water
• 1 tbsp of fish sauce
• 1-2 tbsp of sugar (depending on how much of a sweet tooth you are!)
• 2 tbsp of cooking oil
• 1 tbsp palm sugar

How to make it:

1. Add cooking oil, half of the coconut cream and palm sugar in the wok
2. Turn the heat on low and add the Massaman Curry Paste
3. Stir and bring it to a simmer whilst stirring continuously for 1 minute
4. Add the other half of the coconut cream and the water to stop it from boiling
5. Add all the chicken and stir vigorously until the chicken is done
6. Add the fish sauce and sugar while putting the heat up high
7. Keep everything boiling for 2 minutes and turn off the gas