Massaman - take 2

This type of curry, called Massaman curry, is a slightly less hot version of Thai curry. It is from the south of Thailand and you get that sense from the spices you find in it.  Later adventures will include some other curries but my wife has a limit to the heat she can take.  One of the ways it become milder is to roast the chili peppers and garlic and shallot.

Ready for roasting.

After roasting you let them cool and peel them.   You put the seeded, roasted peppers into a food processor and grind them.  Add the garlic and shallots, along with 1/2 c. chopped ginger (below), 1/4 c. water, 4t. lime juice, 4t. vegetable oil, 1 T fish sauce, 1 t. Five Spice powder, 1/2 t. ground cumin, and 1/2 t. black pepper.  Process until it forms a paste.  This is your curry paste and it will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. 

To actually make the curry, we're going to use red pepper, potato, onion, coconut milk, chicken and cilantro.

First step is to fry some paste in oil to brown (below). Stir in 1. 25 c of chicken broth, coconut milk, potatoes, onions, pepper and salt.  Bring it to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are just tender, about 12-14 minutes.

Stir in chicken and simmer for an additional 10-12 minutes.   Serve with chopped cilantro and dry-roasted peanuts. 

You can see that once you have the paste, the rest is really easy.  You can buy curry pastes in the stores but part of this for me is finding out what's in them so I am doing it from scratch.