Thai mussaman beef curry

I have a great cookery book that I  bought over with me from England  called Rick Stein's far eastern odyssey....it has recipes from Cambodia ,Thailand ,Malaysia, Bali , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It really is right up my street as Travelling man and I love to eat hot spicy exotic sounding dishes...Admittedly they are time consuming to make and everything is from scratch - no shop bought pastes - and the ingredients can be hard to find sometimes....but I consider that to be a challenge, and really enjoy wandering round the ethnic markets searching for unusual ingredients to create with !!







You have to make the Thai mussaman paste first....
10 dried red chillies, roughly chopped
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 teasp cardamon seeds, from about 20 green pods
1 tbsp cumin seeds
16 whole cloves
5 cm piece cinnamon stick
3 tbsp veg oil
200 g shallots, roughly chopped
25 g garlic ,chopped
1 tsp shrimp paste
25 g peeled fresh ginger, chopped
2 fat lemongrass stalks,core chopped
8 tbsp coconut milk

Heat a dry frying pan over a medium heat and add the dried chillies for a minute or two until lightly toasted, then tip into a spice grinder or mini food processor.Return the pan to the heat and add the coriander,cumin , cloves , cardamon seeds and cinnamon, shake them around for a few seconds until they start to smell aromatic, and add them to the spice grinder. Grind to a fine powder.

Heat the oil in the same pan and fry the onion and garlic ,for about 20 minutes, until richly browned.

Add the shrimp paste and ground spices,and cook it all together for 2-3 mins more Tip the mixture into a mini food processor ,add the remaining ingredients and blend into a smooth paste.

Thats most of the hard work done,and it can be made in advance.....

1.5 kg stewing beef,cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cans coconut milk, 800 mls
6 cardamon pods
10 cm piece cinnamon
300 g potatoes ,peeled and cut into inch pieces
8 shallots
1 quantity Thai  mussaman paste
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp brown sugar
75 g roasted peanuts

Put the beef into a large pan with 350 mls coconut milk and the same quantity of water, the cardamon pods,cinnamon and 1 teasp salt. Bring to simmering point ,put the lid on with just a fraction uncovered to let the steam out, and simmer for 2 hours, until tender, stirring from time to time.

  Meanwhile ,peel and halve the shallots. Uncover the curry and remove the cinnamon and cardamon ,stir in the rest of the coconut milk ,potatoes,shallots,curry paste fish sauce ,tamarind paste and sugar ,and simmer for another 30 minutes,or until everything is tender. Stir in the peanuts and serve.


I do have to admit that this curry is not for the faint of heart....its certainly hot and spicy ,but Travelling man and I are made of stern stuff and we managed it just fine!!

 Check out the book , I LOVE it!!