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Massaman curry is famous for a good reason—it's so gosh darn delicious!!! If you've had it, you know I'm right 🙂 I'm using beef short ribs in this version, which is hands down the best cut of beef for this...it's flavourful and all the marbling keeps it moist and tender. Creamy sweet potato goes perfectly well with this spice-loaded dish. Oh, and it's gluten-free, dairy-free and easy to make!
If you love a rich curry full of spices like massaman, but are short on time, try the quicker and easier panang curry recipe with pork or this panang curry beef recipe.
TIP: This curry tastes better the next day, so make it in advance it possible!
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Beef Massaman Curry Recipe มัสมั่นเนื้อ
- Yield: 4 servings
Description
Massaman curry is famous for a good reason! I'm using beef short ribs, which is hands down the best cut of beef for this, though other stew-friendly cut works. Creamy sweet potato goes perfectly well with this spice-loaded coconut milk curry sauce. It's gluten-free, dairy-free and easy to make! I also have an Instant Pot massaman curry if that's your thing.
Ingredients
- 2 lb bone-in beef short ribs (see note)
- 2 ½ cup coconut milk
- Half recipe of massaman curry paste or 5-6 tablespoon store-bought paste
- Water, as needed
- 2-3 tablespoon fish sauce
- 3 Tbsp palm sugar, chopped
- 2 Tbsp tamarind juice (a.k.a. tamarind concentrate or tamarind paste)
- 1 large white-flesh sweet potato, cut into big chunks (the orange flesh ones are not as good in this dish)
- ½ a large onion, cut into ½-inch strips
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts
- Jasmine rice for serving
Instructions
- Cut the beef off the bones and, if necessary, cut them down into large cubes.
- In a heavy bottomed pot, add just enough oil to coat the bottom and heat over medium high heat until very hot. Without crowding the pot, sear the beef in the oil until well browned on 2 sides (or you can sear it on 3-4 sides if you have the patience). Do this in as many batches as necessary.
- Once all the beef is seared, add it all back into the pot, along with the bones you removed.
- Add ½ cup of coconut milk and just enough water to keep everything submerged. Add 1 tablespoon of the curry paste, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, and simmer gently for 2 - 2 ½ hours or until the beef is fork tender. Set it aside.
- In another heavy bottomed pot (this will be your curry pot), add about ¾ cup of the remaining coconut milk and bring to a boil. Let it boil until reduced by about half, and the coconut milk looks significantly thicker.
- Add the remaining curry paste and saute it in the coconut milk over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the coconut oil separates from the paste (it will start to sizzle around the edges of the paste). If the paste sticks to the pot before it is ready, you can deglaze with a splash of the remaining coconut milk as needed.
- Once the paste is ready, add the remaining coconut milk and stir to dissolve the paste. Add 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind.
- Using tongs, remove the beef from the braising liquid and add it to the curry pot, saving the cooking liquid. (Do not add the bones back in unless there's still meat on it that you want to eat.) Then add the onion, potato and peanuts to the curry.
- Skim off the fat and scum from the beef cooking liquid, then add just enough of the liquid to the curry to keep everything submerged.
- Bring the curry to a simmer the let it cook gently for another 10-15 minutes until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
- TASTE and adjust final seasoning with more fish sauce, sugar or tamarind as needed. This is very important because everyone will end up with a different amount of salt at this point depending on the saltiness of your curry paste and also how much cooking liquid you end up adding. So, TASTE.
- Serve with jasmine rice. Enjoy!
Notes
Short ribs are my absolute favourite cut for braising because the marbling in it keeps the meat moist and tender after hours of cooking, but it can be a pricey cut. For something less expensive, you can also go with chuck. Try to go with something that is not too lean or your beef will be dry at the end.
Stephen says
Hi! I made this recipe as-written, and it was delicious. The one problem I had was that I ended up with a good deal of fat that rose to the top (I didn’t fully realize this until the leftovers spent a night in the fridge and developed a 0.5 cm layer of solidified fat lol).
My question is how to best mitigate this? I’m sure this is a result of transferring the braising/boiling liquid. Do I need a different scum skimming technique? Should I discard the rendered braising fat prior to boiling? Meat too fatty?
Thank you!
Stine says
I just made this recipe and I loved it:) I was left with a lot of delicious stock (I used some large bones) Do you have a good tip for using the remaining of the stock?
Stine from Norway
Pailin Chongchitnant says
So glad to hear!! I would add more beef and veggies to make a nice soup! You can add coconut milk to make it a creamy soup too 🙂
Mark says
I'm liking where I'm at as I write this mid recipe (between the pots). The beef looks great and the sauce is delicious at the midway point. I'm inclined to lower the paste quantity to address a few of my diners that are adverse to heavy spices. But yet again, it's spot on and I already know I'll finish with a great diner. Keep up the great work and vetting of recipes under your brand. Haven't disappointed me yet!
Angie says
I think I'm going to make this and combine this method with your IP Massaman method--because it's a two pot situation anyhow, braising the beef in this recipe under pressure sounds like a way to get to Massaman town in far less time! Thanks for posting both methods.
Sonia says
I want to try your recipe but I have a question. With the gunk and so much impurities on the braising liquid, is it alright to boil the beef first for 20 minutes, then discard the dirty gunky water, pat the beef dry, sear them before adding to the clean pot of coconut milk and curry to braise away until tender? The braising liquid will be nice and clean by the time the beef is tender and before adding the liquid to the curry pot.. Thank you.
Pailin Chongchitnant says
I personally feel that the practice of boiling meats to get rid of "impurities" is overkill and actually removes flavour and nutrients unnecessarily. We call them "impurities" but really they are not anything toxic or inedible that needs to be so thoroughly removed, I do it so that the end result isn't so brown, and the strong flavour of beef doesn't overpower the curry, but we're not doing this to make it "cleaner" so I think the process you describe is not necessary.
Steve says
Came out lovely. My Thai wife confirms the taste is excellent.
I used chicken rather than beef and reduced the 40 grams of dried chilis to about 30. I’ll let it sit a day - something I do with all soups and stews - before eating.
Shanna says
Delicious!!
James says
Delicious
Luke says
Looking to make this with lamb, would it work/what changes would I need to make? Made it a few times with beef and it goes down a treat!
Jenfph says
I just made this for my neighbors father who said he wanted to eat massaman today! (In Thailand) Absolutely beautiful recipe and your recipe made a very old man happy today!
Theresa Dang says
Question,
Can I use unsweetened coconut milk vs regular coconut milk?
John says
Regular/normal coconut milk is unsweetened. They only contain coconut milk, some water, and in some cases - an emulsifier (like Aroy-D). All curry recipes call for regular, unsweetened coconut milk. Personally, I've never heard of sweetened coconut milk.
mark says
Sweetened coconut milk is commonly in the bar section of the supermarkets and are used for pina coladas and such. Coco Lopez is the brand most commonly seen in the Northeast US.
Jay says
I already love making your green curry and panang curry, so it was time to try this one too. I can't get those white sweet potatoes here, and didn't want to use regular potatoes, so I tried it with turnip instead, which turned out really well. A slight sweetness like sweet potatoes, but a firm bite like regular potatoes.
Bhadam says
I wanted to know whether it is necessary to boil the seared meat or if I could braise the seared meat in the coconut curry instead?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
You can braise the seared meat in the curry.
Henry says
You can use regular white Irish potatoes, I order this soup all the time and the potatoes I believe are Irish potatoes or at least they taste the same
Santi says
Woooowww!
This came out so good, thanks for sharing it. We couldn’t wait until the next day but did wait half a day.
Thanks!
Stephen Chan says
I love Thai curries, while Massaman may not be my favourite among all curries, it's still delicious in it's own way, especially the peanuts!
Richa says
My thai curry fails have been numerous over the last years.. The store bought pastes just didn’t make the final dish flavorful , as vegetarians We ended with infamous colored water for a curry.
Thank you !
Based on your paste and curry recipe I was able to make awesome vegan massaman curry , the family loved it ! And no more thai takeouts !
Will try all the other curries too ...
PS for vegan / vegetarians the shrimp paste can totally be skipped .
For the indian palate - we can use the red chilies dried (which we usually get in the indian store) with seeds removed , I used only 3/4th the amount of red chilles , but the outcome was perfect.
Tim says
OMG, Massaman Curry with short ribs is the ultimate luxury! I know I will occasionally make this with other cuts of stewing beef, but I’m so grateful to you for showing me how to do it this eay.
Tracey Sullivan says
Love this recipe. I've made it twice both times with store bought curry and it was great. The second time I used white potatoes instead of sweet potatoes and added red pepper to make it a bit spicier. I used coconut oil to brown the meat. My husband liked it more with sweet potatoes and I like it better with the white potatoes, but it was delish both ways.