Massaman Curry Paste
My mother and her sisters made this at our home in Thailand when I was young, and the smell of the spices toasting was the first thing I noticed and the thing I remember most. Cardamom and cinnamon and cloves and cumin, all of them together in the dry pan before anything else happened. My mother tamed the heat for me so I could find the flavors properly. I learned to love this early because she made it easy. And then the paste followed us to Maryland, bringing the same spices, the same smell, a completely different kitchen. That is the thing about Massaman. It carries. Make this paste and keep it in your refrigerator. Everything that comes from it will be worth it.
Ingredients
- 4 dried red chilies seeded and chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped shallots
- 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon chopped galangal
- 2 teaspoons chopped lemongrass tender part only
- 1 teaspoon grated kaffir lime zest
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts optional, for a thicker, nuttier flavor
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
Instructions
- Soak the Chilies: Begin by soaking the dried red chilies in hot water for about 10 minutes to soften them.
- Prepare the Ingredients: While the chilies are soaking, chop the shallots, garlic, galangal, and lemongrass. Grate the zest from a kaffir lime.
- Blend the Ingredients: Drain the chilies and place them in a blender or food processor. Add the chopped shallots, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, and kaffir lime zest. Also add the ground coriander, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, black pepper, and salt.
- Grind to a Paste: Blend the ingredients together until they form a paste. Depending on the power of your blender, you may need to add a little water to help the ingredients move and blend evenly.
- Add Final Ingredients: Once the ingredients are mostly smooth, add the roasted peanuts (if using), fish sauce, and tamarind paste. Continue to blend until the paste is completely smooth.
- Store or Use: Transfer the curry paste to a jar and store it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or use immediately in your favorite Massaman curry recipe.
Notes
Toast the whole spices before anything else happens. This is the step that everything else in this recipe depends on. Untoasted whole spices in a curry paste produce a flat, raw quality that long simmering cannot correct. Two to three minutes in a dry pan, stirring constantly, until the kitchen smells like what this paste is supposed to smell like. That smell is your signal that the spices are ready. Remove them from the heat the moment it arrives. Burned spices are bitter and the batch cannot be saved. Let them cool completely before grinding.
Build the paste in stages. The lemongrass and galangal need the most time, five to eight minutes of real pounding before they are broken down enough to accept the next ingredient. Add each component only when the previous one is fully incorporated. A paste built in stages has a different texture and a different depth than one built all at once. The mortar is not a mixing bowl. It is a tool that works ingredient by ingredient, and it produces something different from a machine for that reason.
The whole spice quantities in this recipe produce a Massaman paste that is warmly spiced and complex without being overwhelming. My mother reduced the heat for a young child by using fewer dried chilies rather than fewer spices. The spices are not what make this paste challenging for a young palate. The dried chili is. Start with six chilies, taste the finished paste, and add more in the next batch if you want more heat. The spices can stay exactly as written.
This paste keeps in the refrigerator for two weeks and in the freezer for three months. Make a full batch. The work is the same for a small amount as for a large one, and a jar of Massaman paste in the refrigerator is a Massaman curry on any weeknight with thirty minutes of additional work. My mother made the paste so the curry could follow. That is still the right reason to make it.
Nutrition
Serving: 1tbsCalories: 30kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 0.8gFat: 1.4gSaturated Fat: 0.2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.8gSodium: 240mgFiber: 0.9gSugar: 1.5g
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