Made-from-scratch Beef Massaman Curry! This epic Thai coconut curry takes time to make but you’ll be rewarded with a rich, fragrant curry with fall apart meat and beautiful layers of flavours that you can’t buy in a jar.
BONUS: I’ve also included directions for how to make this using store bought Massaman Curry paste, including my tip for the BEST brand to use!
Feeling inspired to make a Thai banquet? Try adding Chicken Satay Skewers, Thai Fish Cakes, Pad See Ew Noodles or Thai Fried Rice to your menu!
Massaman Curry
Peanuts, coconut, aromatic fresh and ground spices, potatoes and fall apart beef. What’s not to love about Massaman Curry? It’s like all my favourite things, simmered in one pot!
And it’s not just me. There’s a reason why Massaman Curry seems to appear as a Chef’s Special at almost every Thai restaurant, along with its lamb shank counterpart. And that it was probably the single most requested recipe when I did a recipe call out.
We’ve embraced Massaman as a firm favourite and it’s totally worthy!
What is Massaman curry?
Massaman Curry is a bit of an outlier in Thai cuisine. It was born from Indian and Malay influences and as a result, the main flavours comes from spices typically associated with Indian curries. Spices such as: cumin, coriander, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom.
Basically, if you take Indian curry spices and do a mash up with aromatics used in Thai curries (garlic, lemongrass, galangal), add coconut and peanuts, you end up with Massaman Curry. So it tastes like a mash up between an Indian curry and Thai Curry.
And we love it!
“It’s not quick and easy, but it’s worth it!”
This recipe was never going to make my quick ‘n easy recipe collection, but every minute is worth it. The freshness of a made-from-scratch massaman curry paste puts store bought to shame.
Yes there are quite a few steps – but it’s not hard and I hope these process photos and the recipe video will give you the confidence that you got this!!!
Best beef for Massaman curry
One of the signature characteristics of Massaman Curry is tender fall apart meat. It’s most commonly made with beef. Though it will work fine with any slow cooking cut of beef, I find that beef chuck has the ideal amount of fat and fibre texture for this curry.
The cooking method for the beef is quite unique – it’s simmered in a pot with beef broth with lemongrass trimmings and bay leaves until it’s fall apart tender, then the reduced braising liquid and beef are later stirred into the curry.
This cooking method makes Massaman Curry very easy to adapt for almost any protein because basically, you just simmer your chosen meat until it’s super tender.
PS The pieces of beef are quite large – and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Big, juicy, fall apart pieces of beef. yesssssss!
The aromatics
The curry paste uses fairly common Thai aromatics.
Galangal is a common ingredient used in South East Asian cuisine – it looks like a red ginger but is tougher to cut, and tastes like citrusy/piney ginger. It can be found at everyday supermarkets in Australia (Coles, Woolies, Harris).
In addition to this, there’s dried Asian chillies (Asian store, or use these ones from Harris Farms), ginger, lemongrass and eschalots (the baby onions / French shallots).
The preparation of the Aromatics for Massaman Curry is quite unique, so I’m going to step through some of the key ones.
Dried Chillies – The seeds of chillies is where most of the spiciness is so by removing the seeds, it makes this curry quite mild. Also, dried Asian chillies are typically more mild than dried chillies from other regions (such as Caribbean and Hispanic).
Lemongrass – Typically when lemongrass is called for in a recipe, the reedy outer layers are peeled off and discarded. I like how the trimmings are used to flavour the beef broth in this recipe. Then the softer inside stalk is used in the standard manner – finely chopped then blitzed in the curry paste.
How to make Massaman curry paste
One of the characteristics of Massaman Curry is the signature hint of smokiness. In order to achieve this, the Aromatics are charred in some way – methods vary from using a charcoal grill to cooking in oil, or in a dry skillet which is how I do it in this recipe.
Once charred to infuse the Aromatics with the smokey flavour, the galangal is grated (it’s tough, so that’s the best way to ensure a smooth sauce), the garlic is peeled and the chillies are emptied of the seeds before blitzing in a food processor with toasted spices to make the paste.
Alternative: BEST store bought curry paste
We all have times when we need Massaman Curry but making it from scratch simply isn’t viable for whatever reason.
So I’ve included directions for how to make a really great Massaman Curry using store bought curry paste. Whatever the jar says to do, IGNORE IT! Follow the directions I’ve provided to toast the curry paste and brighten it up with a fresh hit of garlic, ginger and lemongrass paste before adding the coconut milk.
And for the BEST Massaman Curry paste, find the little Maesri cans. Restaurants use it, chefs use it, and I hoard it.
And it happens to be a bargain at ~$1.50 a can.
I use it for all my Thai curries when I don’t have time / ingredients to make the curry paste from scratch – Red, Green and Lamb Shank Massaman Curry.
Where to find Maesri curry paste – at your local grocery store!
It’s sold at most metropolitan Coles and Woolworths grocery stores in Australia (Asian section), at Harris Farms, practically all Asian stores (it would be un-Asian not to carry it!) and here it is online in Australia, US, Canada* and UK.
* Obscenely expensive, please try to get to an Asian store!
Can’t find it?
Use any Massaman Curry paste you can find. Order of preference (Aussie brands) – Ayam, Five Tastes and bringing up the rear is Volcom (it’s always too sweet).
Making the Massaman curry sauce
We’re on the home stretch here with the best part yet to come – EATING IT!
Making the Massaman Curry sauce and bringing it all together is relatively straight forward. Start off by sautéing the curry paste to bring out the flavour, add coconut milk, cinnamon and star anise.
Next, we season the curry sauce with fish sauce (the salty), tamarind (sour) and sugar (sweet). The holy trinity of Asian cooking – the perfect balance of sweet, salty and sour!
Add potatoes (raw) and by the time the potatoes are tender, the sauce should have reduced and thickened. If it thickens too fast, just thin it with water. Then lastly, plonk the beef back in just to heat through.
OMG can you imagine the smell of this, simmering away on the stove?? It’s insane!
And those hunks of beef that just fall apart at a touch…. and those tender potatoes that have sucked up all those amazing flavours….
And that sauce… that sauce!! 😩
It’s simply amazing.
Well, not that simple to make. But it’s so, so worth it! – Nagi x
PS Update: I’ve since shared Lamb Shank Massaman Curry. That too is amazing – with a capital A!
Complete your meal – starters!
On the side
Watch how to make it
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Massaman Curry
Ingredients
Spice Paste:
- 1 lemongrass (Note 1)
- 6 dried red Asian chillis (not Thai! Note 2)
- 4 eschallots , peeled (Note 3)
- 5 cloves garlic , unpeeled
- 3 cm / 2.25″ galangal piece , peeled, cut into 3/4 cm / 1/2″ slices (Note 4)
- 4 – 6 tbsp water
Spice Paste Dried Spices:
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 3/4 tsp cumin
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 3/4 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Beef:
- 700 g / 1.4lb beef chuck , cut into 4cm / 2.5″ cubes (Note 5)
- 500 ml / 2 cups beef broth , low sodium
- 2 bay leaves
Curry Sauce:
- 1/4 cup / 65 ml vegetable oil
- 400 ml / 14 oz coconut milk (full fat, 1 can)
- 1 cinnamon quill
- 1 star anise
- 1 tsp tamarind paste/puree (Note 6)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 2 medium-small potatoes , peeled and cut into 2.5cm / 1″ pieces
Garnish & serving:
- 3 tbsp peanuts , roughly chopped
- Finely sliced red chilli (optional)
- Asian fried shallots (optional, Note 7)
- Steamed jasmine rice
Instructions
Lemongrass (see video):
- Remove reedy outer layers and trim lemongrass per Note 1.
- Reserve all the trimmings (for beef). Finely chop the white part (for paste.
Beef:
- Place Beef ingredients in a medium saucepan. Liquid should almost cover beef but not completely – if not, add water.
- Add lemongrass trimmings.
- Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer gently for 1.5 – 2 hours until beef is fork tender.
- Remove beef. If there’s much more than 1.5 cups liquid, simmer to reduce. Set liquid aside.
Char Aromatics (char = flavour!):
- Place heavy based skillet over high heat until smoking (no oil).
- Add eschalot, garlic and galangal in skillet. Get a nice char on them, then remove (~1.5 minutes).
- Add dried chillies into skillet, char 10 seconds or so on each side until charred, then remove.
- Once cool enough to handle: Grate galangal. Peel garlic. Break chillies in half, shake out seeds and discard.
Spice Paste Dried Spices:
- Wipe the skillet used above or use a clean one. Heat on medium heat, add Spice Paste Dried Spices. Toast for 30 seconds or until they start to smell fragrant – do not let them burn. Immediately transfer into bowl.
Curry Paste:
- Place chillies in food processor. (Note 8) Blitz until finely chopped.
- Add galangal, finely chopped lemongrass, the toasted Spice Paste Dried Spices, and remaining Spice Paste ingredients, starting with 4 tbsp water. Blitz until smooth – add more water if required.
Curry Sauce:
- Place oil in a pot or large skillet over medium high heat. Add curry paste and cook for 3 minutes until the liquid has cooked out and it’s thick and fragrant.
- Add coconut milk, stir to incorporate.
- Add cinnamon, star anise and reserved beef braising liquid. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Stir in fish sauce, tamarind and sugar, stir.
- Add potatoes and cook for 7 minutes or until potatoes are tender, turning as required.
- Add beef and simmer for 2 minutes or until sauce has reduced and thickened.
- Adjust: saltiness with fish sauce, sour with tamarind and sweet with sugar. The taste should be sweet, salty and sour, with more emphasis on the sweet and sour notes. Top up with a little water if the curry seems too thick
- Serve over jasmine rice, garnished with peanuts (essential!) plus optional crispy Asian shallots and fresh chillies.
Recipe Notes:
- Follow Beef steps to cook beef and make broth;
- Skip all curry paste making steps;
- Under Curry Sauce steps, use store bought paste instead of homemade PLUS 2 garlic cloves minced, 2 tsp minced ginger plus 1 tbsp lemongrass (paste OR finely grated fresh, white part only).
- Cook it off for 3 minutes per recipe, proceed with recipe as written.
Nutrition Information:
I adore Thai curries!
Proof:
Life of Dozer
His eyes boggle at the sight of a big slab of beef…. OMG OMG….
Hi Nagi. I love all your recipes!! I am wanting to make Massaman curry in the slow cooker using store bought curry paste (I have Mae Ploy brand here) Can you please advise best way do do it? I wasn’t sure whether to throw everything in together or cook meat first in curry paste? Please help. Thank you! 🙂
Hi Nagi, I love your blog. I plan to try making this recipe. Can I use the Masre yellow tin Massaman Curry paste & add extras to up the flavour. Can you give me a few suggestions as to what to add. Thanks heaps Annie
Yes! I keep meaning to write it up, here are the ingredients to improve the curry paste flavour (it’s for Maesri, my fave!). Start and finish with recipe as written, just changes to the curry paste sautéing step:
1 x 114g tin Maesri Massaman Curry Paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, minced
1 tbls lemongrass paste
Place oil in a pot or large skillet over medium high heat. Add curry paste, garlic, ginger & lemongrass paste and cook for 3 minutes until the liquid has cooked out and it’s thick and fragrant.
Add coconut milk, stir to incorporate. Continue with recipe as written!
Thanks for that! I was hoping there was a quick version using a “jazzed up” supermarket paste 🙂
Thank you so much. I will let you know how it turns out
Hi Nagi,
Oh my this looks awesome. My beautiful Thai niece-in-law makes this all the time, but the only time I ever have it is when I visit her and since she is 5 hours away on the other side of NSW, it is not very often that I can have it. She makes it at the restaurant she owns with my nephew. But I must say this looks as close as it gets to theirs. I’m so happy I found this recipe as now I can replicate it at home. Thank you again for a fab recipe.
I hope you give it a go Rita, I’d love to know what you think!
Hi, first off am loving your recipes. The pork in the honey butter sauce is to die for. Quick question the Massaman Curry can it be frozen? Also can I cook it the day before and then reheat it? Thanks
Hi Jane, I’m so glad you’re loving my recipes! Yes this can be frozen and yes it’s perfect to make ahead and reheat!
As with all your recipes, this is another 5 star dish! It’s laborious but well worth it. The flavour is so complex and you’re right, it develops more depth the day after. Best beef dish so far. I’m going to try the rendang beef this week. So glad I found your blog, I now only trust recipes from your website…My family is loving it!
Woah thanks so much Linda, I truly appreciate the feedback ❤️
I really enjoyed making this dish, and it tasted lovely- the paste was great. Though, I don’t know what I did wrong- the colour of my curry was a murky brown- not sure why. I didn’t add the beef stock that I cooked the meat in- I was worried it might taste a bit too meaty, if that makes sense. next time I will though- great dish regardless!
Oh I hope you try it with the stock, you really need that flavour! – N x
Hi wondering if i used a store brought paste instead of making my own could I still use this recipe and follow other steps? Also how much paste would I use from the jar? Thanks
We love this recipe!! Trying it with pork belly this time. Quick question, is it 3cm/1.25in of galangal or 5.5cm/2.25in?
Thanks for another great recipe!
Super excited to make this.
Can I use olive oil instead. I don’t have vegetable oil. And could I use coconut sugar as I don’t have white sugar
Sure can Kerry, I hope you love it!
Yes to both!! N x
Hi Nagi, is it possible to do this in a slow cooker? Sounds amazing!!
This was almost too spicy for my white girl palate! My boyfriend had two servings, I still went back for seconds. The flavor is really nice once you get past the initial shock. Next time I’ll only use half the chilies and let boyfriend doctor up his own bowl.
😂 I love this! Yes you can always cut back on the chillies and add more later if you want more heat – N x
I made this dish last night Massaman curry is my all time favourite curry and your recipe has such a great depth of flavour and balance, the beef was meltingly tender and the curry sauce is beyond words, definitely worth the extra effort to make the curry paste as opposed to buying it. My hubby and I went to Uncle Boons Thai in New York City while on holiday a couple of weeks ago and this recipe is just as amazing and flavourful as the Massaman curry we had there and I don’t have to wait half an hour out in the cold in line to get it! This recipe will be on regular rotation when the Tassie winter hits
Woah!! I’ve been to uncle boons many times in NYC and it’s my absolute favourite.
It’s closed permanently since COVID 🙁
I love browsing the comments on this site and you just made my day reading that.
I will be trying this curry now since it’s recommended by someone with such great taste in restaurants !! Hehe !!
Thanks Georgie
And of course thanks Nagi xx
Woah Georgie that’s so great to hear!!!!
This is so good. Restaurant quality. II’ve tried making it out of a jar before and I think it’s definitely worth the extra effort making it from scratch. There is no comparison. Thanks for sharing.
You’re so right! Homemade is so much better than anything store bought!
Hey Nagi. Would the recipe be the same for lamb shanks?
Hi Trudi, You’d need to adjust the cook time to ensure the shanks are cooking long enough for them to be tender.
Amazing dish! So I actually messed up when I added salt thinking it was sugar – realized this 1/2 tbsp in. I fixed it by adding a tablespoon of sugar to offset it my mistake. Skipped the fish sauce because I didn’t want to make too salty. Didn’t add tamarind paste and galang but used the substitutes as suggested. Didnt have nutmeg so didn’t use. Anyway soooo delicious! I always appreciate how you add tips & substitutes in your recipes. Making this again!
I’m so glad you loved it and managed to salvage it!!! We’ve all done the salt/sugar mix up at some stage in our lives 😂
Hi Nagi just came across this site for red thai curry. Is there an alternative for shrimp paste as its very costly here in mumbai, india. Await your reply. Thanks
I don’t have an alternative for this in the red curry at the moment, it’s really required for an authentic flavour – N x
Thanks for this recipe, a quick question, in the Curry Paste step 1 part, you say to add curry paste – but I don’t see curry paste in the ingredients list. Do you just mean the eschalot/garlic/dried spices mix? Thanks!
If you substitute chicken how would you prepare the lemongrass beef stock liquid? Do you just simmer the chicken later? Looks great!
Hi Nagi!
This recipe sounds AMAZING! I am wondering if it could be done in a slow cooker (and if so, how)?
Thank you! 🙂
Emma
Hi Emma! The beef can be done in the slow cooker, I think 5 – 6 hours on low will be great. But then you will need to reduce the liquid to about 1.5 cups in a saucepan – just boil rapidly until it reduces. Hope that helps! N x
Hi Nagi,
I will be making your curry tomorrow, and hopefully it will be as delicious as it looks like on your photos!
Just a little question though, in other recipes I see many people using shrimp paste (and no fish sauce) for a massaman curry. Any reason why yours does not use any?
never mind, this curry is just AMAZING! Made it last night, my husband was super impressed! Thank you Nagi!