Gaeng Mussamun

I went to the trouble of making fresh Mussamun curry paste the other day, and so have been sharing the recipe and the paste of this Thai standard with friends while it is still good. I have made this once with beef and once with chicken. Only advice I can offer is: wait 24 hours before eating, the spices really don't manifest in the dish for at least that amount of time.

Mussamun Curry with Beef, Potatoes, and Peanuts

5 cups coconut milk*

2 lbs boneless beef, cut into 2-inch chunks

1 cup coconut cream*

1/3 c Mussamun curry paste

3 TBS fish sauce

2 TBS palm sugar or brown sugar

3 TBS Tamarind Liquid §

12 whole cardamom pods

6 cinnamon sticks

2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks

1 large onion, cut lengthwise into thick wedges

1/2 cup dry-roasted peanuts

About 2 TBS freshly squeezed lime juice

In a large saucepan, bring the coconut milk to a gentle boil over medium heat. Add the beef chunks and simmer until the beef is tender, about 1 hour.

In a small heavy-bottomed skillet over medium hear, bring the coconut cream to a gentle boil. Adjust the hear to maintaim a gentle boil and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. The coconut cream will become fragrant as it thickens. When you see tiny pools of oil glistening on the surface, add the curry paste and stir to dissolve the paste in the coconut cream. Continue cooking for 3 to 4 minutes, until the curry paste has a pleasing aroma.

Scrape the curry paste into the pot with the beef and coconut milk; stir well. Add the fish sauce, sugar, tamarind, cardamom, cinnamon, and potatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the onions and peanuts and simmer until the potatoes are cooked, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning until you have a pleasing sweet, sour and salty balance. Add a little lime juice to sharpen the taste.

Serve warm.

Note: Substitution of chicken for the beef has an advantage: much less preparation time. To substitute chicken for the beef, use 3 lbs chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized chunks. Omit the initial long simmering in coconut milk called for with beef. Begin by cooking the curry paste in coconut cream over medium heat as directed. Stir in the chicken and cook it in the coconut-curry sauce until coated and browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan, add the coconut milk, and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Continue as directed in the beef recipe.

To prepare the curry in advance, cook it only up to the point where the onions are added. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate up to 24 hours. To serve, bring the curry back to a gentle boil over medium heat. Add the onion and continue as directed.

*What is the difference between coconut cream and coconut milk? They are the same thing, but the milk is diluted with more water. We buy canned coconut cream with 11-17 grams of fat per serving, and then dilute it for the coconut milk. This recipe calls for 5 cups, so we use 2 1/2 cups coconut cream and 2 1/2 cups water.

§For Tamarind Liquid: Boil 1/2 cup water, and add it to about 1/4 dried tamarind. After 20-30 minutes, press all the brown tamarind liquid you can through a fine sieve, discarding the pulp.