Apartment Cuisine: Masaman curry

I've always loved Thai curries. In my mind, they're usually not as spicy or heavy as most North Indian curries and pack more flavor compared with Japanese curries. But I didn't know just how much I loved Thai curries until I actually went to Thailand in high school and ate at a hole in the wall shop in Ko Samui's main tourist drag. Before then, my parents and I would frequent at this place in Arlington that serves very creamy and mildly spicy curries with many pieces of chicken and very little of other ingredients. So when a huge bowl of potatoes, meat, and many vegetables swimming in a watery green curry arrived at our table in Thailand I was pretty surprised.

I can still remember my first reaction to that first spoonful of curry. It was SO flavorful and made me finally understand the phrase "party in my mouth." I paused, and just sat there, tasting all the different flavors. It was citrusy from the lemongrass, sweet and rich from the coconut milk, salty from the fish sauce, a little spicy, and so much more. Compared with really creamy curries, the lower fat content really allowed all the flavors (and trust me, there were many) to come through. The wateriness of the curry also made it a much lighter dish so you can eat more of it (another plus)!

We went back to that joint for pretty much all of our meals for the rest of our stay on the island. Everything there was so fresh and flavorful. Even the simplest fried rice was something I could never even dream of recreating at home.

Much like Indian curries, making Thai curries from scratch is a pretty daunting task. Not only are the ingredient lists miles long, the ingredients themselves are not usually found in your everyday supermarket. Kaffir lime leaves? Tamarind? Galanga?? Even the cooking class I took in Thailand involved using ready-made curry pastes. But that's fine, because they can easily be found in Asian food stores. The brand I like, Maesri, are very cheap (88 cents!) and really good.

This basic recipe was introduced to me by the excellent Mr. Ben Good. He would make this about once a month, pretty much every time Caribbean bar came around. My version is a little thinner, has more vegetables, and is vegetarian. Even though it doesn't quite compare with the real Thai curry that you wash down with a glass of fresh-squeezed pineapple juice while feeling the sea breeze on your face, it's still a decent substitute.

 


Masaman curry
Makes 4 servings

This recipe is infinitely adaptable. Explore different curry pastes to find the one you like best. You can put in essentially any meat or vegetable you want. The recipe below just includes what I had in my fridge that day. You can also put in more spices if you want for an even more flavorful curry. Depending on which curry paste you're using you can customize to taste.

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small can Maesri Masaman curry paste
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1 cup water
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
1 orange bell pepper, sliced
2 packed cups of kale, thoroughly cleaned and cut/torn into small pieces
4 oz. tempeh, cut into 1/2" cubes

Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-high. Add onion, bell pepper, tempeh and kale until vegetables are fragrant and tempeh is heated through. If you're replacing tempeh with meat, add it earlier to make sure it's cooked almost all the way through. Stir in curry paste, coconut milk and water, cover and let boil. Lower the heat and simmer for ~10 min. Serve over rice.