Gaeng Massaman Gai
A mild, warming curry with chicken on the bone, potatoes and roasted peanuts, scented with cinnamon, cardamom and star anise. Sweet, salty and gently sour.
Method
Six steps · about 60 minutesToast the whole spices
Warm the cinnamon, star anise and cardamom in a dry, heavy pot over medium heat for about a minute, until fragrant. Lift them out and set aside.
Fry the paste in coconut cream
Spoon the thick cream from the top of one can into the pot. Simmer for 3–5 minutes until the oil starts to separate, then add the curry paste and fry for 2–3 minutes, stirring, until it smells rich and toasty.
Brown the chicken
Add the chicken and turn it in the paste for about 5 minutes, until coated and lightly coloured.
Simmer gently
Pour in the rest of the coconut milk and the stock. Return the spices, add the bay leaves and simmer gently with the lid half on for 20 minutes. Do not let it boil hard.
Add potatoes, onion and peanuts
Simmer for another 20–25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is soft enough to pull from the bone.
Balance and rest
Season with fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind, a little at a time. Massaman should taste sweet, salty and gently sour, all at once. Let it rest for 10 minutes and serve with jasmine rice.
From our kitchen
Notes for an authentic flavourMassaman is the mildest of the Thai curries. Its warmth comes from dried spices like cinnamon and cardamom, not from fresh chili.
Chicken on the bone gives a much richer sauce than fillets. If you use boneless thighs, shorten the simmering time.
Tamarind is what keeps it from tasting flat. If you have none, a squeeze of lime at the end works in a pinch.
Like most curries, it is even better the next day, once the potatoes have soaked up the sauce.
- Energy
- 3680 kJ / 880 kcal
- Protein
- 37 g
- Fat
- 62 g
- of which saturates
- 42 g
- Carbohydrates
- 44 g
- of which sugars
- 16 g
- Fibre
- 5 g
- Salt
- 3.0 g
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The blog →Every recipe cooked and tested at home — by Magnus & Lek