Massaman Curry with Beef

This is another of Pailin's excellent recipes, which I'm posting here to record the modifications I made to fit the brand of curry paste available to me and my family's personal preferences. We absolutely love massaman curry, and this recipe in particular - I strongly recommend checking out Pailin's original recipe for a fuller version!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

500g / 1lb of stewing beef

5 tablespoons of massaman curry paste

400ml / 13.5oz of coconut milk

2 tablespoons of fish sauce (as needed)

4 cups of water (as needed)

1 small onion (sliced)

56g / 2oz of palm sugar

2 tablespoons of tamarind juice

1 large potato (cubed)

Directions

1) In a large pan or wok sauté the beef in the vegetable oil over medium-high heat, being sure to sear all the sides if possible. (If the bottom starts to burn at any point, deglaze with a little water.)

2) Put the seared beef in a pressure cooker with half a cup of the coconut milk (if it's separated in the can, use the coconut water here), one tablespoon of the curry paste, and a tablespoon of the fish sauce. Use a little more water to deglaze the wok and put the resulting beef juice in the pressure cooker along with the four cups of water. (Add more water if need to be make sure the beef is completely covered.) Mix everything thoroughly, then set the pressure cooker to cook on high for an hour.

3) Lower the heat to medium and put another half cup of coconut milk in the wok, stirring frequently until the coconut milk has reduced by about half.

4) Reduce the heat to medium-low and sauté the remaining curry paste in the coconut milk, adding a little more coconut milk if necessary to keep the paste from sticking.

5) After two or three minutes add the rest of the coconut milk, the onion, another tablespoon of fish sauce, the palm sugar, and the tamarind juice and return the wok to boiling over medium heat. Time this with the beef finishing its time in the pressure cooker so that you can also add the beef stock (minus any scum) and beef at this point.

6) Once the wok is boiling, add the potato and reduce to simmer, cooking another 10 or 15 minutes until the potato reach your desired tenderness.

7) Check the curry for flavor and add more fish sauce, sugar, or tamarind juice as needed. With the brand of curry paste I have access to I generally need to add another teaspoon or so of sugar, but do what best fits your tastes!

8) Serve the curry as is (if you like a nice, spicy beef soup!) or over rice, and enjoy!