POSTS

Friday, June 10, 2011

Massaman Curry and Peanut Butter Caramel Cookies


I really love massaman curry and have cooked it a few times in the past but it has not quite tasted like the ones you buy in a thai restaurant. So whenever I see a recipe for massaman I am always keen to try it. This recipe for massaman curry is from Masterchef. 

The recipe calls for a paste to be made which is pretty straight forward and similar to most thai curry pastes. There were only two ingredients I found a little unusual and that was white peppercorns which I do have in my pantry but have not used very much. The other was 'curry powder' which always confuses me when listed as an ingredient in a curry paste, anyway I substituted with fresh curry leaves.

I did deviate from the recipe a little, I cooked onion as the base for my curry before adding the cream off the top of the coconut milk and a bay leaf. Then in went the curry paste until well cooked and very fragrant. I popped in my chunks of beef and let them brown. I transferred this to a slow cooker with some potatoes, fish sauce, tamarind and palm sugar (I used three times what the recipe suggested). I added a little water before letting the slow cooker do its wonder!


For the last half an hour I took the lid off and added the coconut milk. Just before serving I added juice of half a lime to give a little freshness. I garnished with peanuts.
Well, the verdict. It was nice but it did not really taste that much like a massaman curry. So my quest for a good massaman continues.


When I found the peanuts in my pantry my mine wandered to other recipes I could make. I often do a fantastic salted caramel peanut popcorn and I felt like something along those lines. My search resulted in these delicious peanut butter cookies with a salted peanut caramel filling. I am not great at making cookies but these ones worked out great. And it took me hardly anytime at all. 


The dough is made and rolled into balls then use a round teaspoon to make the wells. Once they come out of the oven use the teaspoon again to squish the wells back down again. The caramel is made with sugar, salt, water and glucose syrup. Once it browns you are then supposed to whisk in cream but I had none so I instead added milk, it worked fine though I suspect not quite as thick as it would have been with cream. Mix in the salted chopped peanuts and spoon into your cookies. 
They were really yummy!


14 comments:

  1. Massaman curry is one of my favourite Thai dishes. Your version looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love curries with coconut, my favourites :-). And the cookies, so decadent! Yum! Brava!

    Ciao
    Alessandra
    http://alessandrazecchini.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ooo, that looks really delicious. I've never had massaman curry (I don't eat red meat or pork and it usually comes with beef or pork at all the places I've been to).
    And the cookies sound very flavorful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That curry looks good (I love Thai food but don't cook much of it at home as I can never get it the way "I want it"!!!), but those cookies look out of this world good! I have only recently discovered salted caramel and loved it... peanuts too?? GREAT!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. There is only one food that I do not like and that is peanut butter :-( Love curry though, that sounds delicious, peanut oil is no problem! Diane

    ReplyDelete
  6. It looks delicious!Well done,dear Muppy!A big kiss from Greece!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I know what you mean. Every massaman curry that I've made hasn't tasted quite enough like a restaurant one. The search continues!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I never heard of this type of curry before! It sounds so flavorful and tender from the crockpot. Love those cookies - that caramel filling is heaven!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've never tried anything close to it either,however it looks very flavorful!The cookies..another yummy finish!Thank goodness, craving adds 0 calories..haha..Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think the trick is to make it ahead and let it sit for 24 hours to let the flavours develop. That is what I did last week and mine turned out really well. It could have been spicier - but the way it was pleased everyone!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love massaman curry with chicken, and once I had it with duck and it was divine! We were about to try this recipe, might still do it because we've never made it before and it would be nice to have an idea where to start, lol. Your cookies look amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh my! Can I come over? And I would love another bowl of rice please! Looks delicious! And I'll bring an empty jar to fill up those cookies! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love massaman curry as well - yours looks & sounds great, even if it wasn't as authentic.

    Love the cookie flavour too! Cookies are one of my kitchen weaknesses. The only good cookie I've succeeded with so far is the Anzac biscuit :-(

    ReplyDelete

I would love for you to comment