Anyway, I had a very traditional recipe for Massaman Nua in my Thailand the Beautiful Cookbook I've carted around the world with me. Being summer, time on my hands, I thought OK I'm cooking it. Properly.
To say the house smelt glorious is an understatement. It had over a bulb of chopped garlic plus onions all fried before being ground with a myriad of toasted spices including star anise, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, dried whole chilies plus the usual Thai fresh herbs of kaffir lime leaf, lemon grass, ginger, green onions, lime rind and juice. Whole proper roasted peanuts (not the fried packaged kind, not the dry roasted in whatever spice kind, the pure ones which are becoming increasingly difficult to find in Western supermarkets) and of course coconut cream, fish sauce and palm sugar.
I decided to use beef shin on the bone. Ossobuco cut. So the bone marrow is still in place. A very good choice.
After hours of cooking, toasting, grinding, slow cooking etc etc the final result????
Was absolutely delicious. Light. Yeap light. It simply didn't have that fattiness that the Massaman Nua curries I've had in the past had. Whether due to this particular recipe or the fact that I think peanut butter is used along with the coconut cream to appeal to the Western palate in restaurants I'm not sure. But this version I liked very much indeed.
A descent balance of toasted spice, fresh herbs, acidity, richness, crunch and that meltingly lovely beef. I served it with some chopped fresh tomatoes, crispy fried shallots, extra peanuts on the side, toasted chilli, coriander and lime. Steamed sticky rice added extra authenticity and that lovely chewy texture.
A dish worth taking time over to cook. The results are worth it.
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