Beef & Potato Massaman Curry

📝 Ingredients

• 500 g braising beef (chuck or blade), in 3 cm cubes
• 1 tin full-fat coconut milk (400 ml)
• 1 tbsp red curry paste (about 15 g)
• 1 cinnamon stick + 2 star anise + 1 tsp ground cumin
• 500 g waxy potatoes
• 2 brown onions
• 30 g unsalted roasted peanuts
• 2 tbsp fish sauce + 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 lime
• 1 tsp sunflower oil
• 1 beef stock cube + 300 ml hot water
• 200 g jasmine rice

🍴 Utensils

• Flameproof casserole dish with lid
• Frying pan
• Saucepan with lid
• Peeler
• Cutting board and knife

📖 Steps

1. Take the beef out of the fridge 15 minutes before you start and pat it dry thoroughly with kitchen paper. Peel the onions: thinly slice one and cut the other into 8 wedges. Dissolve the stock cube in the hot water.
2. Heat the oil in the casserole dish over a high heat. Brown the beef in 2 batches for 4 to 5 minutes each, turning it only occasionally, until well browned on all sides. Too much meat at once would make it boil instead of brown. Set aside on a plate.
3. Lower to a medium heat. Scoop 4 tbsp of the thick cream from the top of the tin of coconut milk and heat it in the casserole with the sliced onion for 3 minutes. Add the curry paste and cumin and stir for 2 minutes, until fragrant and the oil starts to separate.
4. Return the beef and its juices, then pour in the rest of the coconut milk, the stock, cinnamon, star anise, fish sauce and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer, cover with the lid ajar and simmer gently for 1 hour over a low heat, stirring from time to time.
5. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut them into large 4 cm chunks. Dry-toast the peanuts in the frying pan over a medium heat for 2 minutes to bring out their flavour, then roughly chop them with a knife.
6. Add the potatoes, onion wedges and half the peanuts to the casserole. Cook, covered, for another 35 to 40 minutes over a low heat, until the beef falls apart with a fork and the potatoes are meltingly tender. Add a little water if the sauce gets too thick.
7. About 25 minutes before the end, rinse the rice until the water runs clear and cook it with 1.5 times its volume of water: bring to the boil, cover and cook for 12 minutes over a very low heat, then leave to stand for 10 minutes without lifting the lid.
8. Remove the cinnamon and star anise. Add the lime juice, stir and taste: the sauce should be sweet, salty and slightly tangy all at once. Serve over the rice, sprinkled with the rest of the chopped peanuts.