Massaman Curry

I don’t know if it’s an Irish thing, but I love, love curry and potatoes together. There is something about that combination that is the ultimate comfort food. There is a chipper here on the west coast of Ireland that sells the best curry chips (french fries). I grew up with the curry chip being the complete norm of a chipper’s menu. As an adult, I moved to the capital and one day I hit up an international fast food outlet and ordered a curry chip, only to be told they don’t do that dish, I couldn’t believe that they didn’t do such a basic cornerstone of a fast-food menu!

If you have never tried this combination, of chips and curry, this recipe is the one for you.

Here is the recipe link: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/massaman-curry-roast-chicken

Massaman curry is a Thai curry, the curry sauce is mainly a mix of coconut milk and curry paste. I adapted the menu a bit to make it less calorific. I used light coconut milk instead of full fat, a substitution I prefer to the full fat. I omitted the peanuts even though they add to the authentic Massaman flavour. You only need a sprinkling for this recipe, but if I have an opened, nearly full packet of peanuts in the cupboard I will eat the rest, usually late at night, after I have already consumed my allotted number of calories for the day. I bulked up the veg portion. Potatoes are just another ingredient in this recipe, and it is suggested you accompany this dish with rice, as the carbohydrate component of the dish. I have doubled the potato portion to 225g per person, so the potatoes become the carbohydrate part of the dish.

This is a great one-pot dinner, well two pots, but you deglaze the roasting tray so that pot hardly counts as the hard work has been done. The curry paste is quite mild so is suitable for most people. I make this dish for 2 of us. On the first day, I roast the full chicken with 450g baby potatoes, I make the full sauce and add 200g of green beans. Serve half the chicken with all the potatoes and veg and half the sauce. On the second day, reheat the remaining chicken in the microwave, roast 450g baby potatoes (I do this in my airfryer), reheat the sauce on the hob adding 200g of green beans. Mix all the ingredients together and serve.

This is a recipe I come back to time and time again, it’s a real favourite in our household. Thank god for spuds!