 Chicken massaman with potato | |
| Type | Curry |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Thailand |
| Main ingredients | Meat (beef,duck, orchicken) ortofu,coconut milk,onion,peanuts orcashews,potatoes,bay leaves,cardamom pods,cinnamon,star anise,palm sugar,fish sauce,chili andtamarind juice |
| Similar dishes | Saraman curry[1] |
Massaman curry (Thai:แกงมัสมั่น,RTGS: kaeng matsaman,pronounced[kɛ̄ːŋmát.sā.màn]ⓘ) is a rich, flavourful, and mildly spicyThai curry.[2] It is afusion dish, combining ingredients from three sources:Persia, theIndian Subcontinent, and theMalay Archipelago (e.g.,cardamom,cinnamon,cloves,star anise,cumin,bay leaves,nutmeg, andmace) with ingredients more commonly used in nativeThai cuisine (e.g.,chili peppers,coriander,lemongrass,galangal,white pepper,shrimp paste,shallots, andgarlic) to make massamancurry paste. The substance of the dish is usually based on chicken, potatoes, onions, and peanuts. The richness comes from thecoconut milk and cream used as a base, as for many Thai curries.
In 2011,CNNGo ranked massaman curry as the number one most delicious food in an article titled "World's 50 most delicious foods".[3] However, in a readers' survey, it ranked at number ten.[4] It remained at number one in the official, updated 2018 version.[5]
Due to itsMuslim roots and thereforeIslamic dietary laws, this curry is most commonly made withchicken, but there are also variations on this dish usingduck,beef,venison,mutton,goat, or rarely,pork.[6][7] As pork isharam (forbidden) in Islam, this last variant is not eaten by observantThai Muslims. Vegetarians and vegans have created their own versions of this dish, such as usingtofu and substituting any shrimp paste or fish sauce used.
The Muslim roots of the dish are evident in many of the flavors of the massamancurry paste (nam phrik kaeng matsaman) that come from spices not frequently used in other Thai curries.Cardamom,cinnamon,cloves,star anise,cumin,bay leaves,nutmeg andmace would, in the 17th century, have been brought to Thailand from theMalay Archipelago andSouth Asia by foreigners, a trade originally dominated by Muslim traders from theMiddle East,Indian subcontinent, and from the archipelago itself, but increasingly undertaken by thePortuguese, theDutch, and theFrench East India Company.[8]
These foreign spices and flavors are then combined with local produce and flavors commonly used in native Thai cuisine such as driedchili peppers,[9]coriander seeds,lemongrass,galangal,white pepper,shrimp paste,shallots, andgarlic to make themassaman curry paste.
The curry paste is firstfried withcoconut cream, and only then are meat, potatoes, onions,fish sauce or salt,tamarind paste, sugar,coconut milk andpeanuts added.[10][11]Massaman is usually eaten with rice together in a meal with other dishes. There are also traditional versions usingoranges,orange juice, orpineapple juice as additional ingredients.[12]
The namemassaman is a corruption of the termmosalman (Persian:مسلمان),[13] an archaic word derived fromPersian, meaning "Muslim"[14] and the namemassaman did not exist in Persian orIndian languages.[15] Hence, many earlier writers from the mid-19th century called the dish "Mussulman curry".[16][17][18]
According to Thai journalist and scholarSanti Sawetwimon, as well asThai food expertsDavid Thompson andHanuman Aspler the dish originated in 17th centurycentral Thailand at the cosmopolitancourt of Ayutthaya,[19] through thePersian merchantSheik Ahmad Qomi, from whom the noble ThaiBunnag family descends.[20][21] Most theories contend thatmassaman is asouthern Thai dish influenced byMalay andIndian cuisine.[22]
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The curry is extolled in the poemKap He Chom Khrueang Khao Wan from the end of the 18th century, attributed to Prince Itsarasunthon of Siam (now Thailand), the laterKing Rama II (1767-1824). It is dedicated to a lady who is thought to be Princess Bunrot, the later QueenSri Suriyendra, wife of King Rama II. The secondstanza of the poem reads:
Massaman, a curry made by my beloved, is fragrant ofcumin and strong spices. |
The first-ever recorded recipe for massaman curry byLady Plean Phatsakorawong in 1889: "Chicken Massaman curry withbitter orange juice", withMassaman spelledMatsaman (หมัดสมั่น).[24] By 2002, it was being included in Australian recipe books as "Musaman beef curry"[25]
The similarity between Cambodia's Saraman curry and Thailand's Massaman curry (also written as Mussaman curry) lies in the base curry paste with just a few ingredients setting the Saraman curry apart.
