Thai-licious Massaman Curry

I took a risk last time I went out for Thai food and strayed away from my beloved Pad Thai to try some Massaman Curry my friends recommended. It was definitely a good decision, this stuff was gooood. Sadly, my wallet keeps me from indulging in this delicacy as frequently as I'd like, what with it costing $12 for the entree and all, so of course I had to find a way to recreate this at home.

After some Googling, I came upon this recipe from the blog Mac & Cheese. Another non-vegan blog, but luckily the recipe is pretty naturally vegan (at least at the restaurant I go to). Though, if you order it at a restaurant you probably want to make sure there's no fish or oyster sauce in it. I altered the recipe a bit to make more sauce, as most of mine evaporated.

Massaman Curry

- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 can (4 ounces) Maesri Massaman curry paste (available at your local asian food store)
- 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk
- ⅔ cup peanuts (I used cashew instead as I didn't have peanuts)
- 1-2 potatoes, chopped into 1 inch cubes
- 1 ⅓ cups ready-fried tofu (also available at your local asian food store)
- 3 shallots, sliced (I used canned minced shallots as that's all I had)
- 1 tablespoon tamarind juice, or lemon juice (I used lemon)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons white or brown sugar
- 1 cup green beans or sugar snap peas

Heat the oil in a pan, add the garlic and fry until golden. Add the curry paste, stir briefly, and then add the coconut milk. Mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are cooked al dente. You don't have to buy the ready-fried tofu, but it saves a lot of time and unless you have a deep fryer or want to spare lots of oil, it'll taste closer to the real thing. Here's a picture of the curry paste courtesy of Google so you don't end up wandering around ther store forever trying to find it:

I found that too much of my sauce had evaporated by the time the potatoes were cooked enough, so next time I will make this in a saucepan instead of a frying pan and make sure to cover it while it's simmering. I upped the sauce ingredients for this reason as well, and also because I cannot get enough of the sauce. Serve with rice or by itself. Become as obsessed with this as I am. NOM.

The curry before it was cooked


The final product