Out of the fire, and into the frying pan.

Well, we’re all slowly recovering from the weekend de flu. The ball and chain found himself roasting from the insides on Monday morning, as did my pretty little 3 year old. Somehow, the young man of the house has avoided this. I am thankful, as he is the one with the nasty asthma secondary to RSV.

So today, my first day back at work since Friday, seemed like a great day to make the fam something tasty from the kitchen. Aside from reheating and pressing “go” on the coffee pot, I’ve not been domestic in nearly a week. I feel like I’m going through withdrawals.

A cold front just pushed through down here, and while it’s sunny and beautiful, it’s also COLD. When you’ve been living in the 101-102 range all weekend, and you find yourself in the “normal” range of the 97’s, cold just seems colder or something. I wanted something hearty, stick to your ribs, and flavorful enough to penetrate my stuffy nose.

Ah…a curry for the non curry lovers – Massaman.

I first discovered it at my best friend’s house. She insisted that I try their favorite Thai dish. I happily ordered my Pad Thai, but then gave the Massaman a whirl. I was set to hate it – I’ve hated all curry that I’ve ever tried. But Massaman is different. Smoother, less pungent. Sort of sweet, but savory enough to feel like a real meal. The spices make your nose and mouth happy all at the same time.

Because of this love of Thai, I really wanted to master my favorite dishes. Curry was the first (and only, thus far) that I have been at all successful with. It seems exotic and scary, but it’s basically a stew with coconut milk.

2 - 2½ cups diced protein source (chicken, beef, pork, or tofu. Traditional is beef)
3-4 ounces of massaman curry paste (just less than a can). This is totally to taste, and the variety of paste you use. If you like things more flavorful, add more, if you like subtler Massaman, add less. I prefer less.
1 small onion, finely diced/minced
2 small-medium cloves of garlic diced/minced
1/8 cup vegetable oil
4 small potatoes, peeled and diced.
1 ½ cup peanuts
2 T. Lemon juice.
2 T. Sugar
Salt (original recipe calls for 2 T., but I found that to be WAY too salty. I would stick with no more than 1 T.)
2 Cans of coconut milk (full fat has more flavor, but light is okay if you insist).

In a soup pot or Dutch oven on the stove: Begin to heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, and paste. Let cook for 5 minutes, reduce heat if necessary to prevent burning. Add oil if it gets too dry.

Add Lemon Juice, sugar, and protein source (raw). Cook until done.

Add coconut milk, peanuts, and potatoes. Cook together until potatoes are soft.

Add salt to desired taste.

This is most traditionally served over Jasmine rice. You should be able to find that in any grocery store.

The above batch is LARGE; it will make at least 8 meals (and those are 8 big meals with the rice). I make them big because (a) we don’t eat meat so I don’t worry about the meat going bad before we eat the leftovers and (b) Massaman gets better the day after. I had a wonderful dinner, and I now look forward to lovely lunches today and tomorrow! I’ve never tried freezing this, I might if I have too much and it’s getting ready to go bad. I’m not sure how the coconut milk and potatoes will hold up in sub-zero temps.

So, the idea above is that if you want a smaller batch to try, go ahead and half the recipe. It should divide out just fine.