Crispy pan-fried tofu, veggies and tender sweet potato chunks are simmered in a peanutty Thai-spiced coconut curry sauce to create this flavorful vegan massaman curry.
Massaman curry is, without a doubt, one of my absolute favorite meals on this planet.
I remember falling in love with Thai food during my early twenties. First I discovered pad Thai. Good. Then Curry, starting with red. Better. Then green. Even better. Then, finally...where have you been all my life?! Massaman curry! Of course, this happened when I wasn't quite as wise as I am now.
You need to be careful with curries. I discovered this when, after a few months or maybe even years or regularly ordering massaman or occasionally some other curry off of the vegetarian section of some Thai restaurant menu, I scanned some of the other menu items and descriptions and noticed references to stuff like "fish sauce" or "shrimp paste." That was a big uh-oh moment.
Nowadays, I'm always super careful. I always inquire as to not only "is this item vegetarian?" but more specifically, "are there any meat, fish or other seafood ingredients, like fish sauce or shrimp paste in here?" Not everyone defines "vegetarian" in the same way, so you gotta look out for yourself.
I met with a similar challenge when I decided to start creating my own Thai dishes. A Thai curry can be a super quick meal if you use a pre-prepared curry paste, and such pre-prepared curry pastes are readily available in the Asian sections of most supermarkets. Even better ones can be found in Asian markets.
Most of these curry pastes, however, contain some kind of fishy ingredient. You can get around this in one of two ways: (1) Make your own curry paste. Lucky for you, I've provided a recipe below for just that. Or (2) do some research and find a vegetarian curry paste. Also lucky for you, I've already gone ahead and done that. Maesri is my favorite vegetarian store-bought curry pastes. It's tasty (though not as tasty as homemade) and totally vegan. Keep a couple of cans on hand and you've got a head start on a quick and delicious curry any night of the week. If you opt, instead, to make your own, keep in mind that you can freeze it. Make a big old batch, stick it in the freezer and most of your work is done. Once again, you're just thirty minutes away from a weeknight curry.
You can use all kinds of vegetable combos in your vegan massaman curry. The green beans and red peppers in my version are fairly traditional, but you'd normally find white potato in place of the sweet potato if you got this in a restaurant. Serve this alongside some jasmine rice, and experiment with different veggies. There's all kinds of ways to make this meal delicious.
With all of that in mind, I should warn you that the ingredients list for the homemade variety of massaman curry paste is quite long. I keep a pretty well stocked pantry these days, so I only had to go out and buy a few of the fresh ingredients. Once I had all the ingredients on hand, making the paste was a breeze, because all it involves is throwing everything into a food processor. I also made life a little easier by using ground spices, whereas most truly authentic recipes would use whole cloves, cardamom pods, etc. If you prefer the whole versions and can do the conversions, go right ahead and make it that way. In either event, if you have a substantial spice collection and a food processor in your kitchen, I totally encourage you to make your own paste. It's the tastiest way to go, probably the cheapest as well, and you know exactly what is going into your food.
This post originally published on Connoisseurus Veg on October 7, 2013.
Thai Massaman Curry with Sweet Potatoes and TofuMassaman Curry Paste
Ingredients
For the Massaman Curry Paste
- ½ cup roasted peanuts
- 1 tbsp. ground coriander
- 1 tsp. cumin
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. ground cloves
- â…› tsp. ground pepper
- â…› tsp. ground nutmeg
- â…› tsp. ground cardamom
- 1 tsp. ground turmeric
- 5-15 dried red chili peppers* soaked in water for about 10 minutes and seeded (use gloves!)
- 1 stalk of lemongrass, minced
- 1 three inch piece of fresh ginger root, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 shallot
- 1 ½ tsp. lime rind
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- juice of 2 limes
For the Massaman Curry
- 2 (14 ounce) cans coconut milk
-
¼
cup
homemade massaman curry paste,
recipe above or 1 can of store bought
- 1 sweet potato, diced into ½" to 1" cubes
- 2 cups fresh green beans, chopped to 1" to 2" pieces
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 lb extra firm tofu
- about 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
- about 4 scallions, sliced
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts, chopped
Instructions
To Make the Massaman Curry Paste
-
Place all ingredients in food processor bowl and process until a paste is formed, scraping bowl as needed.
To Make the Massaman Curry
-
Drain and press tofu.
-
Mix coconut milk and curry paste in large saucepan. Heat to a simmer, stirring frequently.
-
Add sweet potato, and allow to simmer about ten minutes.
-
Add green beans and simmer about another four minutes, and then add pepper and simmer another two minutes. Your broth should be thick and creamy by now and your veggies tender.
-
Taste test, and add a bit more curry paste if you'd like some extra umph.
-
While your veggies simmer, cut your tofu into bite sized pieces. Heat oil over medium skillet, and pan fry tofu pieces on each side until slightly browned.
-
Add tofu to curry mixture. Ladle onto plates or bowls and top with scallions and peanuts. Serve with rice.
Recipe Notes
Base the number of chili peppers on your personal heat preference. If you're not sure how many to use, go with less. You can always add some extra peppers or chili paste to the curry during cooking.
Sounds AWESOME! Ah, I need to make this. Not enough hours in the day to make all the delicious dishes I find hehe
Thank you!!! And I totally know the feeling - my list of dishes to try goes on forever!
Did you ever make it? just tried it today - thanks Alissa! Nicely done.
I rarely say this but can't you be my personal chef? I don't think there is anything you have made that I wouldn't fall in love with. Ooo and I just got the new forks over knives cookbook and can't wait to see what I come up with from that!
Well, I am currently looking for a new job, but I'll just take that as a huge compliment ;) Thanks so much!!! Can't wait to hear about the new cookbook - the reviews make it sound awesome!
this looks amazing and I have ALL of the ingredients... I am def gonna give this a try. Thanks for a wonderful sounding dish. I get Massaman curry at my local thai restaurant.
Thank you! This is one of my favorite restaurant dishes and was so much fun to recreate at home. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
I made this recipe last week and it was really delicious and so incredibly simple! I have made thai green currys before using a paste I bought at the shop as I always thought making my own paste would be too hard but you have showed me how simple and how rewarding it is to make your own! Really made the curry come alive with tons of flavour! HIGHLY recommend this recipe! <333 x
I know right?! I was so intimidated by the idea of making my own paste for the longest time, but it's really not hard at all, and it's way better than the kind you buy in stores. I'm so glad you enjoyed this - thanks for sharing your results!!!
I love massaman curry, too. Could the curry paste be frozen?
Yes! That's one of the things I like best about making my own. I've been making large batches and freezing them in little baggies that hold just enough paste (1/4 cup) for one batch of curry.
Freezing the paste in 1/4 cup portions is such a great idea!! Thank you! Guests marvel at how quickly a tasty curry comes together!
Very welcome!! Enjoy!
This is one of my fabourite curries, but i always have to have them take out the peanuts (though I didn't know it had fish or nuts in the sauce). If you "shouldn't" have peanuts or even tree nuts, do you think substituting with either hemp, sunflower or pumpkin seeds would taste ok?
That's tough, but roasted soybeans might work as a sub. I'm not sure how they blend up, so you might want to try soy nut butter - I bought a jar of this once and the taste isn't too far off from peanut butter. Sunflower seeds might work too, as I've heard sun butter is pretty close to peanut butter, though I haven't tried it myself. Either way, you might end up with something that tastes a little different but is still delicious. Please let me know how it works out if you try a substitute!
Although the chopsticks posing in the pictures look lovely, most Thais that I know would probably eat such a dish using a fork and a spoon.
Thank you! Yeah, I used a little artistic license there...and I do that a lot. I might have more chopstick photos on this blog than fork photos. They really do just look prettier. I put chopsticks in a salad post recently and ALMOST in a burger post (for real).
I made this for dinner tonight and it's AMAZING. I didn't have any peanuts, but I followed the recipe other than that. My kids love it too. It didn't take much time to make and it's absolutely fantastic.
Awesome! Good to know that it's still tasty without the peanuts, for future reference. I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks so much for taking the time to comment and let me know :)
I made this tonight and it was excellent. My husband said it is addictive and ate way too much. No left overs for tomorrow. My paste came out a lot thinner than expected and I think that the next I will use less lime juice. Thank you for this great recipe. It is going to be one of our favorites.
Yay! So glad you both liked it!! I find this one pretty addictive too...with the peanuts and coconut it's pretty hard to resist. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know how it worked out. :)
I've just discovered your blog, and this is the first recipe I've tried. Its fabulous! I think this is first time I've made a dish that tastes so authentic and delicious. Can't wait to try another recipe
Awesome! And good first choice - massaman is one of my favorites! Glad you enjoyed it. :)
This looks so delicious! I pinned it and am sharing on my Facebook page. :)
Thanks so much Amy!!
I'm in love! I've never managed to make authentic tasting Thai food at home but after reading the reviews I thought I'd give this one a try! The results were sooooooo yummy and amazing. The only ingredient I couldn't find was the lemongrass (keeping my eye out and will try to get it in there next time), but everything was still majorly delicious. I did find myself adding more curry paste for a little more of a flavour kick and I also went ahead and added additional veggies that I often find in the massaman curry that I get from a local restaurant (also delicious), including mushrooms and some cauliflower. Yumyumyum! I can't wait to make it again!
Yay! Glad you enjoyed it! And this one is totally customizable. I love the sweet potatoes, but I've used the curry paste + coconut milk mixture with all kinds of veggies and I always love it. :)
Hi! I don't know if something is wrong with my browser but I don't see the recipe for the curry paste...the steps 7 and 8 seem to be a bit mixed up maybe?
Thank you! :D
Sorry about that! I made some updates to my recipe template and it looks like it mixed things up. It's fixed now. Thanks for letting me know!
Hey there I am really excited to try this recipe, I only have one question: For how many people is your recipe designed? I want to cook it for 15 people and need to know how to calculate the ingredients...
Thank you very much!
Hi Melissa! This serves about 6, so I'd say triple it! I hope everyone enjoys it. :)
Can this be made the 1-2 days before and reheated? Using fried tofu puff instead...will all the vegetables become too soggy? Thanks!
I don't think the veggies will get too soggy, but I'd recommend holding off on adding the tofu until right before serving. Hope you enjoy!
So I followed the recipe and used 5 red chili peppers, but it ended up being super spicy (so much that I couldn't eat it). Considering I typically order "hot" at any typical Thai restaurant, does anybody know what may have caused this? Thanks!
DEPENDS ON WHICH RED CHILLIES YOU USED. IN THE INDIAN STORE LOOK FOR THE BYADGI DRIED CHILLIES THEY GIVE GOOD COLOR ARE NIOT THAT SPICY
Hey there! I just stumbled across this recipe and plan to make it for dinner tonight. If using the store-bought curry paste, do you really use the whole can? I did this once with Maesri green curry paste and the result was almost inedible. Maybe the massaman is milder?
I'd say start with a couple of tablespoons and keep adding until you're happy with the flavor. Their massaman is definitely milder than the green, but it's a matter of personal preference and I could see how a whole can might be a bit spicy for some people. I hope you enjoy the curry. :)
i just made the paste...had to substitute some lemon peel for the lemongrass and lime leaves for the lime peel...and used a couple of my neighbor's amazing hot chilis for the chili. Fantastic. Great, simple recipe, thank you! Making a massuman curry tonight! Beautiful blog, I've added it to my list. :-)
Thanks so much Jamie! I hope you enjoy the curry!
This looks fantastic! I've searched everywhere for a good recipe but this is the only one that I've found that is vegan. Thanks! Also, I'm not sure if you know but most of your adds are for meat products....ball park, jimmy dean etc. I don't know if you're playing to the right audience :) Thanks again for the recipe!!
Thanks and I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Heya! First of all, thank you so much for creating this recipe, I made it today and I really loved it. :) Massaman curry has to be my favourite curry (next to Vietnamese yellow curry). I have a question! If I store the leftover paste in the fridge how long do you think it will keep for? :)
I've only kept it in the fridge for about a week, but it freezes well too! Just seal it up and you should be good for a few months. :)
Great recipe, thanks! What size were your cans of coconut milk? I have 400ml cans but I'm guessing that's not the size you used.
Thank you! And I can't believe I didn't specify that in the recipe! I just updated it - they were 14 ounces or 414ml. I think 400ml should be close enough. :)
Can't wait to try this! Can the cardamom be ground cardamom? I noticed the other spices that you listed are ground except that one.
Yup! 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom - I just updated the recipe to clarify. :)
Thank you so much! I can't wait to make this tonight!
The paste was alright. I used more than 1/4 paste, plus had to add in a bunch of salt in the pan of food despite the recipe already containing soy sauce. I still have a butt load of paste to use at least and it should last a while. Also, don't know why, but my food came out some almost white beige color while the photo is all orange. I feel like I did something wrong now.
Hmmm...that is odd. Did you by chance leave out the dried chile peppers? Or the peanuts? That's where most of the orange color comes from. They also add a lot of flavor, so you might need more paste without them - although I always encourage people to use extra paste if they want to go for more intense flavor! :)
OMG. I only just poured this out of the food processor (haven't even made a meal with it yet) and I'm already in love with it. I'm going bonkers to try it. The smell is amazing.
I made the green curry too! Went very conservative on the peppers for both, as they are my fist curry attempts.
Yay!! I'm so glad you enjoyed the green curry and I hope this one turned out to be a hit too!!
They are both wonderful. I ended up dehydrating both so they can be taken camping. Works out to about a heaping tbsp of the dried curry per person. I rehydrate it in about 1/5 cup of water for about 15 minutes before adding it to the coconut milk.
Oh wow! I didn't even know you could do that! I'll have to give it a try! And I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed them!! Thanks Zoe!
Excellent - my whole family loved this meal ! I followed your recipe exactly, right up to the end, then added the cut up pieces of one ripe avocado. Served with brown rice.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! And avocado sounds like an excellent addition! Thanks Betsy!
Do you use full fat coconut milk or lite?
I use full fat, but lite would work in this recipe too!
Hi, made this (or semblance of this) recipe last night. I didn't have some of the ingredients, so I substituted dry peanuts for organic unsweetened peanut butter, I had no coriander so put onion grass instead, I skipped the maple syrup as I do not eat any form of sugar, only fruit, so I put dates instead and had no lime, so put lemon.
It still ended up being delicious even without all the right ingredients. The sauce was thick enough (I added water) and also added an extra onion, peas (instead of green beans)and carrots to the mix. I think you can make this any way you like and adding whatever vegetables you have in season. I will definitely make again and I am sure it will taste different as it depends what you have. But I do always have ginger and curry, turmeric and soy sauce Just ran out of coconut milk, so will add that to my list!
Oh, and I used fermented tofu, which is way better for you than regular un-fermented.
I'm not a vegan nor a vegetarian, but loved this recipe! (and yes, I do try to reduce the amount of meat not just for the environment... )
Thanks for sharing.
Those all sound like delicious modifications! And you can definitely use whatever kind of veggies you like! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Elisabeth!
Massaman curry was one of my favorite tastes. So I decided to try to make it for my Mom and Grandma. It turned out tasting amazing.
I, however, put all the curry paste into the coconut milk to have the full flavor. I'm makinnit again today just because I loved it. I'm going to add a little more garlic and, oh yeah, red chili peps this time(my Grams didn't doesn't do spicy).
Thanks a lot, I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
I’m doing Keto diet, do you know of any good substitute sweetneners that would render authentic Thai taste in this recipe? Thanks!
Hmmm...I'm not really sure, but perhaps soaked dates would work!
About how much curry sauce does your homemade recipe make? I’m a big fan of making complicated sauces once and freezing for next time.
Thanks.
Plantcrone.
You should get about 2/3 cup of the curry paste. :)
GREAT RECIPE THANKS . CAN I USE LOW FAT COCONUT MILK? THE RECIPE SEEMS TO HAVE A LOT OF FAT 379 OUT OF 485 PER SERVING.ANY SUGGESTIONS?
Thank you! You should be able to substitute light coconut milk with no problem, or even use a mix of light and full-fat - I do that myself sometimes!
We love this curry dish. I made it and froze the leftovers in small containers so I can quickly thaw and make it again. Thank you!
Excellent! The curry paste takes a bit of time to make, but it freezes really well, so I made a double batch and froze it in ice cube trays. That way I can defrost the cubes whenever I want and make a quick curry without a lot of fuss.
Great curry recipe! I even added some chicken to bulk it up.
This recipe was spot-on! Absolutely delicious. Your recipes are always fantastic. Thank you for terrific dinner ideas!
Guys, Thanks For sharing this Great Recipe. My Family Loved it. I am definitely sharing this recipe and this website with my friend. Hope they also love it. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe.
Just made this recipe tonight, and I’ve got to say, I’m so disappointed with how it came out! The sauce tasted overwhelmingly of lemon/lime. Perhaps I used too large of a stalk of lemongrass and my lines were larger than normal? The soup was also very bland with only a quarter cup of the curry. I ended up putting in closer to a full cup. Such a bummer. It also looks like a lot of the five star comments are from people who haven’t actually made the dish? I’ve been hunting for a good massaman curry recipe since I really miss eating Thai food, but I guess I’ll have to keep looking.
And there is no chance you messed up the recipe?
:)
This was amazing! I can’t believe it but I actually made the curry paste as well. Thanks so so much for this amazing recipe!
Have made this already, a hit! Is it possible to make the paste ahead and refrigerate? If so how long will it keep in the refrigerator?
Glad you enjoyed it! You can absolutely make the paste ahead of time. I'd only keep it in the fridge for a 4 or 5 days, since some of the fresh ingredients could go bad. You could also freeze it though - sealed up tightly it should be good for about 3 months.