Massaman Curry

Start by mixing the Massaman Curry seasoning with water to create a paste, then fry it briefly in coconut oil. That quick step blooms the spices before you add the coconut milk, chicken broth, soy sauce and brown sugar. From there, the chicken, vegetables and sweet potato go right into the pan and simmer until everything is cooked through. Roasted peanuts go in toward the end, and fresh lime is added after the curry comes off the heat.

Serve it over rice with cilantro, mint and an extra squeeze of lime, and add more chopped peanuts if you like. Between the coconut milk, sweet potato, peanuts and warm spices, it's a filling meal that doesn't need much else alongside it.

Once you've made it our way, there's plenty of room to experiment. Grill or sear the chicken for a little char, roast or sauté the vegetables separately, or replace the chicken with crispy pan-fried tofu. You can even skip the rice and serve the curry with soba or wonton noodles, or swap cashews for the peanuts.

That's one of the things I enjoy about Massaman. The recipe is simple enough for a weeknight, but the warm spices and hearty ingredients make it just as appealing when you're looking for something comforting on a cool fall or winter weekend.

There are certain flavors that tell me fall has arrived before the weather ever does. Cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and mace start finding their way back into my cooking, along with squashes, yams and sweet potatoes and the richer, slower-cooked dishes I tend to crave once October rolls around. Which might explain why I've always thought of Massaman as my fall curry.

You can certainly eat it any time of year, but something about a warm bowl of Massaman Curry just feels right when the days start getting shorter and the temperatures begin to drop. Coconut milk, sweet potato, peanuts and those warm spices come together in a dish that's comforting and familiar, while still unmistakably Thai.

There's actually a fascinating reason Massaman tastes so different from many of the other curries of Thailand. Even its name is believed to come from an old Thai word for “Muslim,” reflecting the influence of Muslim traders who brought spices and cooking traditions from Persia, India and other parts of the region into Siam centuries ago. Those influences introduced warm spices like cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin and nutmeg into a Thai curry tradition built around ingredients like chiles, lemongrass, galangal and makrut lime. That meeting of flavors is what makes Massaman so interesting to me.

Massaman stands apart from many Thai curries because of its warm spice profile. Alongside familiar Thai flavors like chile, lemongrass, galangal and makrut lime are cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin and nutmeg, flavors that reflect the outside influences that helped shape this distinctive curry.

When we created our Massaman Curry, we started with our Red Thai Curry as the foundation and then took it in a completely different direction. Tamarind adds a subtle tang, while cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and mace build layers of warm, aromatic spice. The result is a mild curry with plenty of flavor but without a lot of chile heat.

Those warm spices really come to life in the finished dish. Coconut milk and chicken broth create the curry base, while sweet potato, chicken, vegetables and peanuts turn it into a hearty meal. The sweetness of the potato, richness of the coconut and peanuts, and tang from the tamarind and fresh lime all work especially well with those warm spices.

For me, that's what separates Massaman from the other Thai curries in our lineup. It's unmistakably a Thai curry, but cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and mace take it into a warmer flavor direction that feels especially at home in fall and winter.