Culture Of Gang Massaman Curry
Gang Massaman curry is a product of Southern Thailand or should I say a tailored product of Southern Thailand as it was originally from India, but the Thais have tweaked the dish here and there to give it more of a Thai taste. I must admit I really like the taste of Thai food and Indian food meeting half way, you tend to get the best of both worlds. Khun Lek being native Thai cooks Massaman as she would all dishes and keeps it as Thai as possible.
Khun Lek’s Gang Massaman Beef Curry Recipe
For 2-3 servings
- 2 tablespoons of Sugar
- 2 tablespoons of Nam Pla fish sauce
- 2 sweet potatoes (cut up)
- 1 tablespoon of Massaman curry paste
- 1 tin of coconut milk
- Half a pound of stewing beef
- 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (The crunchy type)
Method
Peel and cut up the sweet potatoes in to manageable chunks and then cut up the beef keeping roughly to the same size as the potatoes. Heat the coconut milk and the Massaman curry paste in a saucepan at medium to low heat and stir. Mix the paste well with the coconut milk by first breaking up the curry paste and then continually stir to stop the mix from sticking to the saucepan. At first site of the previous combined ingredients of the coconut milk and Massaman curry paste bubbling up and this is usually after about 5 minutes you can then add the beef and stir. Add about half a cup of water to the mix or enough water for the meat to be fully covered. Now add the rest of your ingredients, but not the sweet potatoes or the peanut butter. Stew for half an hour or until the beef is becoming nice and tender and then add the sweet potatoes and the peanut butter. Let simmer for 20 minutes longer. At this stage the juice of the curry should be reduced and you should be able to see some of the ingredients, but make sure the juice is not too low or you will need to add more water. Your Beef Massaman curry is ready to serve and mine would have a healthy portion of rice to go with it.
Special 4oth Wedding Anniversary
On 6th June 2010 Eric & Sandra Birkett from Swansea celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary, they hired out Ham Bottom in Wellisford, Wellington, Somerset, England one of the marvellous houses from Sleeps12 for a long weekend and asked Thai Gourmet to provide a delicious Thai meal on the Saturday evening for them and the family. The great thing about the Sleeps12 houses is that they are big enough for all the family to stay in. It truly is a wonderful idea to book a lovely getaway in a beautiful part of England to celebrate a truly special occasion and have your loved ones celebrate with you.
Eric And Sandra
Menu
Part of the menu for the evening was the scrumptious Gang Massaman beef curry amongst a whole host of other choices, which of course now you can all go to your kitchens and conjure up as you have Khun Lek’s recipe.
Khaaw Niaw Gap Mamuang: Sticky rice with mango slices
Family Meal
Comments
Culture Note
On quite a few occasions as Thai Gourmet visit homes across the South -West serving Thai cuisine we find that for authenticity and for the nature of the evening the customer had added chopticks to the table lay up.
- Did you know that mostly the only times that Thais use chopsticks is when eating noodles, chopsticks of course can be found in Chinese homes all over Thailand.
- Most Thai people prefer to eat with a fork and spoon the spoon will be carried in the right hand and the fork used to push the food on to the spoon.
- When eating sticky rice you can just use your fingers by breaking the rice off and rolling it in to a ball to dip in your very tasty side dishes.
Language Note
Khrap and Kha….. are known as particles and are used to show politenes especially in formal situations. It is necessary to use these when speaking with people that you don’t know that well and when meeting someone for the first time. I tend to use the polite particle of ”Khrap” in many situations keeping my dealings as polite as I possibly can. As the saying goes manners cost nothing and you will be seen in a better light by the Thais. I find the Thai language a very polite and beautiful language that personifies calmness and respect. The thing to remember is that sometimes a word meaning the exact same thing is different for a male and a female.
Khrap ครับ Polite particle used at the end of a sentence to show politeness (spoken by a male)
Kha คะ Polite particle used at the end of a sentence to show politeness (spoken by a Female)
Example
- Thank You Khoopkun ขอบคุณ Khoopkuun Khrap ขอบคุณครับ More polite for a male speaker
- Thank You Khoopkhun ขอบคุณ Khoopkhun Kha ขอบคุณคะ More polite for a female speaker
If you are looking to get away for the weekend or the week and have a special ocassion to celebrate like a birthday, anniversary, hen night, or spa weekend then the South- West of England is a beautiful spot to visit. Booking one of the www.sleeps12.com properties accommodates you with all the facilities you need for a great and memorable stay. The lovely property for Eric and Sandra’s Wedding Anniversary can be found on the site under properties and called Ham Bottom.
Once you have booked your accommodation don’t forget to call in Thai Gourmet of Somerset the premier Thai food caterers for the South-West of England for your delicious Thai food www.thaigourmetfoodcaterers.co.uk You will also find Thai Gourmet on the sleeps 12 website on various properties on the extras page under Engaging Thailand.
Ham Bottom Wellisford
View around Wellisford area
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