Tofu massaman curry recipe
Massaman is a rich, relatively mild Thai curry and along with panang and yellow curries, it’s heavily influenced by Malaysian cooking. The aniseed and Silk Road spices are so prevalent in this dish, you can almost retrace the steps of the first merchants who set foot in southeast Asia from the Levant.
Recipe from Rosa’s Thai Café: The Vegetarian Cookbook by Saiphin Moore. Published by Mitchell Beazley, £20.
Ingredients
For the tofu curry- 1 potato, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp tamarind paste
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- 200 g soft tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 tbsp crushed roasted peanuts
- 1 bay leaf
- 25 g chopped pineapple (optional)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 cloves
- 2 star anise
- 1.5 tbsp massaman curry paste
- 165 ml coconut milk
- 165 ml water
- 2 garlic bulbs, unpeeled
- 1 tbsp sliced galangal
- 2 tbsp sliced lemongrass
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 2 cloves
- 3 dried chillies, deseeded and soaked until tender
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- 5 shallots, unpeeled
Details
- Cuisine: Thai
- Recipe Type: Curry
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 30 mins
- Serves: 2
Step-by-step
To make the curry paste
- First, make the curry paste. In a wok or frying pan set over a medium heat, dry-fry the whole shallots and garlic for 5-10 minutes, until golden and soft. Leave to cool, then peel off the skin. Set aside.
- Using the same pan, dry-fry the galangal and lemongrass over a medium heat until fragrant and slightly golden, about 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
- Dry-fry the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves and peppercorns for 2 minutes, until fragrant, stirring continuously. Pound or grind to a powder.
- Using a pestle and mortar or a food processor, finely pound or grind together the drained chillies and salt. Add the galangal and lemongrass, and pound or blend well.
- Now, add the shallots and garlic. Continue to pound or grind, then add the roasted spices. Grind or blend the mixture to a smooth paste.
To make the curry
- Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan set over a medium heat. Add the cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves and star anise and toast for 1 minute. Stir in the curry paste and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- Now pour in the coconut milk and measured water and cook for about 2 minutes, until the oil from the curry paste separates and rises to the surface of the liquid.
- Add the potato chunks and the onion to the pan, then stir in the palm sugar, sugar, soy sauce, tamarind paste and salt and continue to cook over a medium heat, stirring continuously for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened slightly.
- Stir the tofu, peanuts, bay leaf and pineapple, if using, into the pan. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for a further 5 minutes, until everything is heated through. Serve with steamed rice.
This recipe is from Rosa’s Thai Café: The Vegetarian Cookbook by Saiphin Moore. Published by Mitchell Beazley, £20. Photography by Louise Hagger.
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