Hairy Bikers Massaman Curry

Make this Hairy Bikers massaman curry once and you are halfway through the second, because the homemade paste deliberately makes double. Their Asian Adventure recipe serves 4 at around 490 calories in about an hour, with chicken, potato, and peanuts under the coconut milk.

The book describes massaman as slightly sweet, fragrant, and gently warm, so this is the Thai curry that will not blow your head off. Heat stays adjustable anyway, since the two bird’s-eye chillies go in slashed rather than chopped, and you simply add more if you want fire.

The paste is where the flavour genuinely lives though, which is why the whole spices get dry-roasted before anything is blended. Cardamom, cumin, cloves, star anise, and white peppercorns toast for a couple of minutes first, because that step wakes them up.

Hairy Bikers Massaman Curry Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Simmering Cuisine:British Thai Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 25 minutesCook time: 35 minutesRest time: minutesTotal time:1 hour Servings:4 servingsCalories:490 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Toasted whole spices blend with peanuts, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, lime leaves, and shrimp paste into a fragrant massaman paste, half of which coats quickly sealed chicken strips and softened red onions. Potato, slashed chillies, stock, coconut milk, tomatoes, and Thai seasonings then simmer briefly under a lid, finished with lime juice, Thai basil, and peanuts.

Ingredients

For the Massaman Curry Paste

• 6 cardamom pods, bashed and seeds removed
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 5 cloves
• 1½ star anise
• 1 tsp white peppercorns
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp groundnut oil
• 25g peanuts
• 5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 5 lime leaves, finely sliced
• 30g galangal, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 lemongrass stalks, white part finely chopped
• 1 tsp Thai shrimp paste
• 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
• ½ tsp grated nutmeg
• 2 tbsp grated palm sugar

For the Curry

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 red onions, sliced
• 500g skinless chicken breast, cut into 1cm strips
• 1 large potato, cut into 1cm cubes
• 2 red bird’s-eye chillies, slashed (add more for a hotter curry)
• 250ml chicken stock
• 200ml canned coconut milk (low-fat is fine)
• 2 tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
• 6 kaffir lime leaves
• 1½ tbsp grated palm sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3-4 tbsp Thai fish sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• Handful of Thai basil
• 25g toasted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 1 large red chilli, deseeded and sliced at an angle

Instructions

1. Wake the spices: Dry-roast the cardamom seeds, cumin, and cloves in a small pan for a couple of minutes, then grind them to a powder in a blender or pestle and mortar.
2. Finish the paste: Add every remaining paste ingredient with 2 tablespoons of water, then blitz or pound until smooth. Set it aside, remembering only half goes into today’s curry.
3. Build the base: Soften the red onions slowly in the oil for 8-10 minutes until golden at the edges. Push them aside, raise the heat, then seal the chicken strips quickly on all sides without deep colour.
4. Coat and combine: Stir half the paste through the chicken and onions for a minute. Add the potato, slashed chillies, stock, coconut milk, tomatoes, lime leaves, palm sugar, soy, and 2 tablespoons of the fish sauce.
5. Simmer briefly: Bring it to the boil, cover, then simmer gently for 14-16 minutes until the chicken is just cooked through. Watch the clock here, because breast strips dry out fast past done.
6. Brighten and serve: Taste, adding more fish sauce if it needs salt, then stir in the lime juice, most of the basil, and half the peanuts. Serve over rice with the remaining basil, peanuts, and red chilli slices scattered on top.

FAQs

What do I do with the leftover curry paste?

The double batch is the book’s deliberate gift, keeping in the fridge for two to three weeks or the freezer for a month. That makes the second massaman a 35-minute dinner, since the hard work is already done.

The same book spends massaman paste on its Thai curry puffs too, so the jar has more than one job waiting.

Is there a Hairy Bikers beef massaman curry?

Not as a written recipe, though the Bikers themselves approve the swap, since their Great Curries duck massaman notes beef works in it too. Chunked braising beef needs a long gentle simmer rather than this recipe’s 15 minutes, so borrow the timing from a slow braise instead.

For beef curries the books fully wrote out, their beef madras brings the heat and their beef rendang brings the coconut depth.

Can I make it with duck or prawns instead?

Duck is doubly blessed, because this recipe’s own headnote suggests skinless duck breast, and Great Curries carries a full duck massaman besides. Sear duck breast strips the same way as the chicken, then trust the same short simmer.

Prawns have no massaman of their own in the books, though the Panang on the very next page approves them, so the honest route is that recipe rather than an improvised swap here.

How spicy is massaman curry?

Gentlest of the Thai curries, and the book promises it will not blow your head off, since sweetness and fragrance lead while the warmth stays in the background. The slashed chillies release flavour without flooding heat, exactly like the trick in the madras.

If you want a gently spiced curry from the Indian side of the books instead, their chicken bhuna works the thick, medium-warm end of that spectrum.

Why does the recipe use chicken breast rather than thighs?

Because the whole curry cooks in about 15 minutes, and thin breast strips are done in exactly that window while thighs would still be toughening. The trade is attention, since the book warns the chicken dries if you let the simmer run long.

The potato cubes are the safety net, soaking up sauce and stretching the dish while the meat stays just-cooked.