The massaman flavour combination has been around for centuries and has truly stood the test of time. It’s traditionally and best made in a potjie on the fire, and it’s made with beef, as opposed to chicken, lamb or pork. Think of it as a combination of a Thai and Indian style of curry. Characteristically you first make the massaman paste, then fry that in coconut cream, and then you add the meat and potatoes. This is the most complex curry potjie recipe in this book but well worth the effort. The results are quite phenomenal. I like to use a cut like chuck steak for this meal as it has a lot of flavour, can stand up to cooking for a while, and the intramuscular fat means the meat does not dry out too much. For me a cut like rump becomes too dry and something like oxtail takes prohibitively long to become tender. Feeds 4.
Ingredients
- 1 punnet fresh coriander (30 g)
- ½ cup salted cashew nuts
- 4 cardamom pods (whole)
- 4 cloves (whole)
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 4 cloves garlic (peeled)
- ginger, equal in volume to garlic (peeled and sliced)
- 1 tsp coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tin coconut cream
- 1 kg chuck steak meat (deboned and cut into cubes)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 lime (juice and zest)
- 1 tot brown sugar
- 2–3 medium potatoes (500 g, cut into wedges for looks not taste)
- 2 red onions (cut into wedges for looks not taste)
Method
1. Wash the coriander and, without thinking about it too much or being too exact, cut it in half with a single stroke of a knife. Keep one half separate for later and finely chop the other half.
2. Put your potjie over the flames and dry-roast the cashew nuts for a minute or two. Nuts burn easily so focus solely on this task when performing it. Remove and set aside for later reintroduction to the meal.
3. In the now empty potjie, dry-roast the cardamom pods, cloves, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Again, don’t multitask. Remove from the potjie. From a practical point of view, you might need to use your leather welding or braai gloves to tip the potjie and scrape the spices out as they are too small to simply get out with your wooden spoon.
4. Crush open and peel the cardamom pods from step 3. Discard the shells and add the insides of the cardamom pods and the rest of the dryroasted spices to your pestle and mortar or food processor. Start working them over, also adding the nutmeg, turmeric, chilli powder, garlic, ginger, salt, oil and the chopped coriander from step 1. Continue grinding away until you have a thickish paste. Give yourself a pat on the back – you have now made your very own ‘massaman curry potjie paste’ (MCPP).
5. Please note that you can perform steps 1 to 4 even a day ahead of time, should you wish.
6. Get the potjie back on the flames and add about 2 tots coconut cream (not an exact science) to the potjie. Now fry the MCPP from step 4 in it for a minute or three.
7. Add all of the beef cubes and toss around, stir-frying for a few minutes to get bits of them seared. Don’t overthink this step; get some searing done and move on to the next step. We’re looking at roughly 5 minutes.
8. Now add the rest of the coconut cream and the chicken stock and stir well. Use the juices to loosen anything that might be stuck to the bottom of the potjie.
9. At this point add the bay leaves, star anise and cinnamon sticks. Bring the potjie to a gentle simmer and put the lid on. Leave it to simmer very gently for 1 hour. You want a few coals under the potjie and a few coals on the lid as well. 10. Lift the potjie lid, stir in the roasted cashew nuts from step 2, the fish sauce, lime juice and zest, and sugar. Also add the potatoes and onion and close the lid. Simmer until the potato wedges are soft, which will take about 20 minutes.
11. Remove the lid and now let the potjie simmer uncovered until you are happy with the consistency of the sauce.
12. Serve with basmati rice, naan bread, tomato&onion salad and yogurt with cucumber
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