Thai Masaman Chicken, "gaeng Masaman Gai"
Ready In: 1 hr 15 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken, cut into the usual bite sized pieces (you can also use pork or beef)
- 3 cups coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted dry roasted peanuts
- 5 peeled peeled but whole small onion
- 5 small potatoes, peeled and partly boiled
- 3 bay leaves
- 5 cardamom seeds
- 1 small cinnamon stick, roasted
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar
- 1 tablespoon tamarind paste, mixed with
- 2 1⁄2 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 -3 tablespoons masaman curry paste
- 1 -3 teaspoon garlic, crushed. (optional)
Directions
- Peel potatoes, boil them partly in a cooking pot for 10-15 minutes, and cut in 1 to 2-inch pieces.
- Allow the coconut milk to separate and you will have about two cups of thick "cream" and one cup of
- thin "milk". In a small saucepan bring the milk to a simmer and add the chicken or pork. If you are
- using beef you will need another two cups of milk. Simmer the meat until it begins to become tender
- (beef takes longer, hence the additional milk).
- Put the coconut cream in a wok and bring to a boil, add the massaman paste and "stir fry" until the
- flavor is brought out and maximized. Add the remaining cream and curry paste to the meat.
- Add the peanuts. Taste and adjust the flavor until it is (just) sweet (by adding sugar), sour and salty
- (by adding tamarind juice, lime juice and fish sauce).
- Add the remaining ingredients and cook until cooked.
- Note : the potatoes used in Thailand for this dish are a yellow fleshed sweet potato of the type sometimes
- called a yam in the US. Western style potatoes can be used, but absorb less of the sauce and flavor.
- The potatoes act as a "moderator" to reduce the heat of the curry, and should not be left out.
- You can either serve it on a bed of Thai jasmine rice, or double the amount of potato and serve it alone.
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