Chicken Massaman Curry

I don't know about you but I love Thai curries one of my favorite flavors being massaman.  I've tried many, many times to construct curry pastes from scratch and have never been able to recreate the rich full flavors that curries from restaurants seem to have.  Well, last week when we decided to try again I decided to try a store bought paste, partially due to a lazy lazy funk I was in and also just a general curiosity..could it be good or, could it be better than anything I've attempted?  The answer--yes, to both!
The only brand I could find was Maesri's Massaman Curry Paste which made choosing a brand pretty easy :)

As far as recipes to follow I started with a recipe I found on the foodblog The Very Hungry Cook and then modified it to fit what I had in terms of spices and in terms of what I wanted in the curry.
The first thing to do is slice the chicken and mix with some oil and the curry paste and set that aside to marinate while you prepare all the veggies and other components.

Next I prepped all of the other ingredients so once I started cooking I could crank through the recipe.  I used onions, potatoes, butternut squash, tomatoes, and peppers.

 The recipe called for star anise, cardamom and a few cinnamon sticks, I didn't have any star anise on hand so I substituted with chinese five spice and it worked wonderfully.  The spices are heated in some oil until fragrant (~30sec) and then add the onions and cook until translucent and a little browned on the edges.

Add the chicken and cook until it's white on all sides.

 

Then add coconut milk, fish sauce and water allow to mix and follow that with the potatoes, squash, half the cilantro and peanuts.  Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 15-20min.  All that's left after that is to add some sugar, peanut butter, tamarind, tomatoes, peppers and cilantro; cook for another 5-10min and it's good to go!
We served it over rice and topped it with chopped peanuts and cilantro--delicious!

Chicken Massaman Curry:
Ingredients:
1lb. boneless skinless chicken breast                                   
3 tbsp. massaman curry paste                  
8 cardamom pods                                         
2 sticks cinnamon                                           
3 star anise                                         
1 large onion (sliced)                                                 
2 cans coconut milk                                      
1 cup water                                                
1.5 tbsp fish sauce                                              
2 medium potatoes (peeled, quartered)
1/2 lb. butternut squash (peeled, cubed)
1 pint cherry tomatoes (halved)
1 red bell pepper sliced
1/2 tbsp tamarind paste                                   
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp peanut butter                                      
3-4 tbsp peanuts (roasted, unsalted) + more for topping                                                
2 tbsp peanut/vegetable oil                         
Thai basil leaves a handful, chopped.
                              
1) Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.
2) Add 1 tbsp of the oil and the massaman curry paste to the chicken. Mix well, and set aside to marinate.
3) Heat the remaining oil in a pan.  Once the oil is hot, fry the cinnamon, cardamom and star anise in it for 30 seconds (I used chinese five spice).
4) Add the onions and fry until golden-brown.
5) Then add the chicken, lower the flame and let it cook for 3-5 minutes.
6) Add coconut milk, fish sauce, water, potatoes, butternut squash, peanuts, half the basil and bring the mixture to a boil.
7) Cover and simmer for ~20 minutes or until the potatoes and squash are cooked through.
    *If needed, remove the lid and cook until the curry reaches desired thickness.
8) Stir in the tamarind paste, brown sugar, tomatoes, peppers, peanut butter and remaining basil.  Cook for 5-10 minutes longer.
9) Remove from heat and serve hot with jasmine rice, top with remaining basil and chopped peanuts.