Leftover beef massaman curry recipe

I love making this the day after serving beef – roast beef, steaks, even mince beef or koftas. There are a lot of ingredients, but it really is worth it. I have tried to include store-cupboard items in this recipe, so that if you can’t get hold of the fresh ingredients that I suggest, you can use what you’ve got.

You’ll see the original ingredients I created the recipe with, which you are more than welcome to abide by, along with alternative suggestions for other ingredients that would work well, too.

Timings

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Serves

Four

Ingredients

For the curry paste

1 shallot (any onion is fine, but if large, only use half)
1 lemongrass stalk (a bit of dried lemongrass is fine, or omit)
3 garlic cloves (essential, but can use purée)
25g piece of fresh ginger (essential, but can use paste, purée or ground)
3 cardamom pods (seeds only) (or a pinch each of ground cinnamon and nutmeg)
1 star anise (or ground star anise, or ¼ tsp Chinese five spice)
1 tsp coriander seeds (or ground coriander or more cumin)
1 tsp cumin seeds (or ground cumin or more coriander seeds)
½ tsp chilli flakes (or chilli powder, cayenne pepper or chopped fresh chilli)
¼ tsp ground cinnamon (or a pinch of ground nutmeg)
3 dried makrut lime leaves (just leave these out, or add lime zest if you have some)
40g roasted salted peanuts (any sort of peanuts, but if they’re not roasted, add salt)
1 tsp galangal paste (I’ve made this curry without and it’s really great still)
1 tsp shrimp paste (fine to omit this)

For the curry

1 onion (any sort of onion, or some celery or leek)
220g leftover beef or steak (if using raw beef, cook for longer. Or use cooked chicken, pork or lamb)
200g leftover roast potatoes (or any cooked potato; butternut squash also works well)
Rapeseed oil, for frying
400g can of coconut milk (essential)
2 tbsp fish sauce (or soy sauce or tamari)
1 tsp brown sugar (or any sort of sugar, but palm sugar is really the best)
10g coriander (or Thai basil, parsley or even mint)
1 red chilli (optional, but more dried chilli flakes or chilli oil)
1 lime (or ½ lemon, or omit)

Method

Finely chop the shallot. Bash then finely chop the lemongrass. Thinly slice the garlic. Slice the ginger into matchsticks.
Add all the spices, lime leaves and nuts to a spice grinder (or use a pestle and mortar) and blitz (or pound) until broken down fully.
Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over a high heat and once hot (no oil added yet), add the ground spices, shallot, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, galangal paste and shrimp paste. Stirring very often, let it dry-fry for five minutes, until the chunky curry paste is very fragrant and slightly charred too.
Meanwhile, thinly slice the onion, slice the beef into bite-sized strips and halve any really big roast potatoes. Add the potatoes, onion and a glug of oil to the curry paste and fry for five minutes, stirring often to avoid the curry paste burning – you might want to reduce the heat slightly. Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and sugar to the pan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and let it lightly bubble for 10 minutes.
Roughly chop the coriander and slice the chilli. Taste the curry to check for seasoning, then add the beef and simmer for three to five minutes, just to warm, not overcook it. Add the juice of the lime and taste again. Serve with coriander and chilli slices.