Massaman curry

I'm going through a bit of a Thai food loving craze at the moment. Every time I cook something new, I tell myself to take a few photos and blog it, but never get around to it, until now!

Aran has a peanut allergy and Massaman curry normally contains them, so I've had to leave them out. My ingredient list isn't super specific, as I normally just use whatever I have at the time, meat and vegetable wise.

Ingredients:
chicken breasts (2-3)
potatoes (3-4)
pumpkin (roughly the same amount as potatoes)
brussel sprouts (8-10)
carrots (2)
spring onions (4)
palm sugar (2 tbs)
fish sauce (3 tbs)
massaman curry paste (3-4 tbs)
coconut cream (1 can)
stock (~1 cup)
garlic (2-3 cloves)
galangal (1 tbs finely grated)
cinnamon stick (1)
cardamom seeds (~8)
cloves (5)
vegetable oil (2 tbs)

A photo of the ingredients, it's missing the garlic and galangal.



Cut up the potatoes, pumpkin and chicken into cubes. Half the brussel sprouts and slice the carrots. Slice the garlic and spring onions and dice up the palm sugar. Put the cardamom seeds in a mortar and pestle and bash lightly. They should open up. Discard the shell so you're left with only the seeds and add the cloves. Pound to a powder.



Heat the oil in a wok and add the garlic. Cook for a minute or so and add the massaman paste. After a few minutes add the cardamom and clove powder. Add half the chicken, and cook for a minute or so and then add the rest of the chicken.



When the chicken is browned, pour in the coconut cream and the stock. Add the pumpkin, potatoes, sprouts, carrots, palm sugar, galangal, fish sauce and the cinnamon stick. Give it a good stir and put the lid on the wok and let cook on a medium heat.



After around 20 minutes the liquid should have reduced and your vegetables should be cooked. Add the spring onions and mix through. Taste the curry and add fish sauce or sugar if needed.

Here's a shot of the end result. It's quite thick and chunky, perfect for winter :) It's not very spicy and no doubt isn't a 'traditional' massaman curry, but it's very tasty and my three boys all love it. Now I just have to get them to like hot red curries.