I Don't Know What To Call This!

Except DELICIOUS!

I hesitate to call it "Massaman" because of all of the ethnic cooking I do, Thai & curry-related dishes are ones at which I am the least experienced and since I put what I want into these creations, I don't know if I knock a dish out of a particular label by addition or omission...

In any event, I made this just for myself and Jeff and as soon as we plated up, we had a swarm of children.  Although we warned them it was spicy, everyone gobbled up the small bits we actually shared . . . (you know if I had made this FOR them, they would never have touched it. . . haha!)

I had Wildtree Red Curry paste and also some Taste of Thai red pepper paste that I used in this dish.  I did not use Tamarind but read that Worstershire sauce was an OK sub.  I've never had this dish at a restaurant so I have no idea how it's "supposed" to taste, so if you make it and it is nothing like any curry or Massaman you've ever had, well, don't say I didn't warn ya!

I started with two or three tbsp of the Red Curry paste and a tbsp of the red pepper paste in a large, high-sided skillet and mixed those with about a tbsp of coconut oil on medium-low heat.  The recipes I read online all indicated that mixing the curry with the oil and heating it beforehand was important, so I did it but don't know why, exactly.  So, just do it.

I cut boneless skinless chicken breast into chunks (I used one breast for the ratio of ingredients I'll lay out here, I didn't know how it would turn out so I didn't want to use 3 lbs of chicken and have it suck.) and also chunked one white and one sweet potato.  While heating the pastes I added more cumin (1 tsp.), red pepper (1 tsp.) flakes and 2 cloves of fresh-pressed garlic and about a cubic inch of fresh ginger, plus a dash of tumeric (I have found tumeric can easily overpower a dish, so exercise caution here!)

After 3 or 4 minutes, I added my chicken to the paste mixture and stirred it around until covered in the spice, then added my potatoes, about 1/2 of a yellow onion and two sweet peppers cut into strips and got that all stirred up together and heated for another 3 or 4 minutes, then added fish sauce (similar to tumeric, beware and use restraint here, maybe one tablespoon?), just a few dashes of Worstershire sauce (probably a teaspoon), a couple shakes of cinnamon and my 13.5 oz. can of light coconut milk with a light sprinkle of organic coconut sugar, and about a tbsp of peanut butter.  Other recipes that used more peanut better said the sauce was very thick (too thick for many) and since I like a little bit looser sauce, I went easy on the PB (also trying to watch the calories a little!)

Once all of that is combined nicely and bubbling over medium heat, turn your heat back to very low and cover, let it simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes to get the potatoes fully cooked.  Once you have the texture you like on your potatoes, squeeze in lime juice (I used 1.5 limes, I love lime), stir well again and let heat back through for a few more minutes, finish with a generous garnish of cilantro (a couple of tablespoons) and let it rest/thicken for a few minutes while you cook whatever you're going to eat it with.  I used thin (angel hair type) brown rice noodles, but thicker noodles or just rice would work just dandy also.  The sauce was thick enough to stick but not running, and not gummy.  I felt there was a great balance of flavor with the lime really coming through but as I said, I like lime.  I thought it was spicy without being overpowering but it wasn't spicy enough to keep my kiddos away so obviously I needed more red pepper flakes!

Many commented on various recipes that they served it with avocado but I am actually out at the moment (hard to believe!) so I didn't try that, but I can see where it would be good like that.

Some online subbed a puree of dates or raisins for the tamarind so I'd like to actually try to find the real stuff and see how that changes the dish, perhaps the addition of the dry fruit would eliminate the need for any added sugar at all, although as sugar goes, coconut is most certainly the best of them all!

I hope you try it and love it!