See also Beef Massaman. Lamb massaman curry is a truly luxurious dish. Lamb Shanks cooked in a massaman sauce become meltingly tender and the spices blend so harmoniously with the lamb it truly is a perfect match. This is an oven cooked dish requiring around 3 hours cooking time. If you are thinking of using a slow cooker, then please check out this link as the recipe would need to be adapted. This is not an everyday curry so personally, I would stick with the oven for best results.
For 2 lamb shanks I'm using one pouch of massaman paste, 1 can of coconut milk and around 200g of small potatoes. A small handful of peanuts, you can either shell them or if you only have salted peanuts you can rinse off the salt and leave to dry on kitchen towels. Of course if you have raw peanuts you can pan roast them for a few minutes. You will also need an onion if you want to garnish it as in the above picture. The pastes are complete but it is always a good idea to have a little lime juice to hand to adjust sweetness, if needed, to your personal taste at the end of cooking. You also adjust saltiness by adding a little more fish sauce or salt if required.
Make sure you’re using the “right” type of coconut milk as it will make or break this or any other coconut based curry. Quick guide here, Coconut Milk Summaryor if you would like to see the difference between different brands of coconut milk the full article is here, Cooking Thai Curry with Coconut Milk.
Don't peel the potatoes. Just wash and rub dry.Halve them and cook in vegetable oil until nicely browned. Remove and set aside. Fry the thinly sliced onion (if using) and drain and dry on kitchen paper. Add the lamb shanks to the oil and cook on all sides until nicely browned.
Place lamb shanks in casserole and surround with the potatoes, some of the fried onion and peanuts. Heat the massaman sauce in a pan and add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Pour onto the lamb and potatoes. Top up with water if needed until the meat and potatoes are covered. Cover and cook for around 3 hours at 150C. Check on it around halfway to make sure the liquid is not evaporating too fast which can happen if the casserole lid is not a good fit. At the end of cooking time check meat is tender, also that the potatoes are cooked correctly, if not then put back in oven for another 30 minutes. Stir the pan to mix in any oil that may have separated or skim off some oil if there is too much. Let the lamb rest in the covered casserole pot for 10 minutes before serving. Note, this can be cooked on the hob under a very low heat but you will have to check and stir from time to time to prevent sticking. I find that the oven works better for me.
Enjoy!
If you like this recipe please click the star rating or add a comment below! Kop Khun Kha, Nitsa.x
Lamb massaman curry is a truly luxurious dish. Lamb Shanks cooked in a massaman sauce become meltingly tender and the spices blend so harmoniously with the lamb it truly is a perfect match. This is an oven cooked dish requiring around 3 hours cooking time. If you are thinking of using a slow cooker, then please check out this link as the recipe would need to be adapted. This is not an everyday curry so personally, I would stick with the oven for best results.
Wash and dry the potatoes, don’t peel them. Halve them and sauté
in vegetable oil until they are browned remove from the pan and reserve.
Fry the thinly sliced onion and drain and dry on kitchen paper
and reserve.
Dry fry the peanuts until nicely browned. Add these to the potatoes
but reserve a small amount to be scattered onto the lamb before serving.
Add the lamb shanks to the pan and cook them on all sides
turning until nicely browned.
Place the lamb shanks in a casserole dish, add the potatoes and
half of the fried onion and most of the peanuts.
Heat the Massaman paste in a pan and add the coconut milk and
bring to a simmer.
Pour the mixture onto the lamb and potatoes and top up with water
if needed until the meat and potatoes are covered.
Cover and cook for around 3 Hours at 150°C. Halfway through,
check to see that the liquid is not evaporating too fast which can happen if
the casserole is not a good fit.
At the end of the cooking time check that the meat is tender,
and the potatoes are cooked.
If there is too much oil separated, you can skim it off if you
wish. Alternatively stir to incorporate into the sauce.
Taste the sauce and if you find it too sweet adjust with some
freshly squeezed lime juice.
Let the lamb rest in the covered dish for around 10 minutes
before serving. Garnish with the remaining fried onion and peanuts.
Serve with Thai Jasmine rice.
Recipe Note
As always using the “right” type of coconut milk is a
game-changer. See here.
This recipe is
based around medium-sized lamb shanks at about 350 g each. Cooking times remain
the same for smaller or larger shanks because they are cooked in liquid instead
of being roasted.
If you find
yourself with too much sauce, then keep the lamb warm under foil and reduce the
sauce in the pan. Similarly, you can add water to the sauce and heat it if too
much has evaporated.
If you wish to
scale the recipe up and don’t have a big enough casserole dish, then this can
be cooked in a roasting tray tightly covered with foil.
This can be
cooked ahead if you wish, or even the day before. To reheat, cover and heat in
the oven at 160°C for around 30 minutes. Oven temperatures vary so check it is
properly warmed up before serving.
It’s good to give feedback.l’m a bit of a regular on these pastes.I think I’ve cooked with them all.Beware the Jungle curry!.Did massaman with roast potatoes yesterday, 2 sachets to 2 pounds of shin cooked in a slow cooker( not roasties, did them separately).Can’t recommend too much.I used to buy all the ingredients separately but the cost and time to source, was often prohibitley expensive.
Tony Holden
November 25, 2022
Just tried the Massaman spices with lamb shank.
Very disappointed , not with the spices as such but far too sweet. I’m surprised (notwithstanding tradition) that you use so much palm sugar nowadays. The sweetness masked the spices and we added 2 limes and half a tablespoon of nam pla to try and counter the sweetness.
Tried your coconut milk recommendation (via Amazon) and it is very good, but the richness made the sweet sauce even worse.
Sorry but would love to try a version with less palm sugar or revert to making my own.
Gina Dean
March 25, 2019
Thank you so much. I first experienced this Massaman Lamb Shank at a Giggling Squid restaurant and then at Patara in Soho, the latter being particularly heavy on the purse! Subsequent attempts to recreate this dish at home were a dismal failure, I tried making my own paste, not great and a lot of effort, supermarket pastes awful, really not something I was going to waste lamb in the moment I tasted them. Your paste was a revelation, I had no hesitation the moment I opened the packet and the end result was simply incredible. Going on to try the rest of the pastes I ordered but have to say you have a mountain to climb to beat this!
Nitsa Raymond
January 23, 2017
Hi Katrina,
I have permanent withdrawal symptoms for Bangkok so join the club! Can’t wait to get back in a couple of months time.
Anyway, I think Massaman would work great with your chicken following the Lamb shank recipe, will cook quite a bit quicker though so would check it after 45 mins or so.
Hope you enjoy it and let us know how it went!
Nitsa
Katrina
January 23, 2017
Hi! I’m so happy to have discovered you. I recently returned from Bangkok and have withdrawal for their curries! And now that I found you I promptly bought all of your curry pastes. :)
Quick question. I have half a chicken (bones in) which I’d love to turn into one of your beautiful curries. Can I use it with the Massaman paste instead of lamb? Or, can I follow these instructions but use your yellow curry paste instead?
I firmly believe that Khao Soi should be ranked as one of the world's great dishes. You can call it a curry or you can call it a noodle soup and it is both of those with more on top, literally on top! A broth of aromatic curry paste and orange-tinged coconut milk with tender chicken falling apart for you, boiled noodles lurking underneath and becoming coated with fragrant oil as they break the surface. Crispy noodles on top you can manipulate and dunk into the sauce,
This is a totally delicious way to serve roast chicken as well as being very simple to prepare. Cooking a whole chicken this way is practised in various forms throughout Asia, sometimes pot roasted, sometimes over hot coals and with many different curry pastes. Often cooked in the home, rather than restaurants, which is probably the reason why many Westerners are not familiar with the dish. Well, now is the time to change that and I promise you that you won't regret it!
This is a dish that is incredibly easy and quick to prepare. If you have a bag of frozen seafood in the freezer and the whole dish can come together in the time it takes to cook the rice. Talking of rice, I find myself increasingly turning to black rice
I can’t believe how delicious these pastes are I’m going to be ordering my second batch not to mention simple to cook and hard to go wrong if you stick to the right coconut milk. I also bought red Thai curry and that was just as good. The Penang I cooked with beef and Thai red with king prawns couldn’t fault them even my partner couldn’t believe how tasty they were and he’s hard to please when it comes to grub!!!!!! Fantastic worth every penny!
Mark G
November 28, 2022
It’s good to give feedback.l’m a bit of a regular on these pastes.I think I’ve cooked with them all.Beware the Jungle curry!.Did massaman with roast potatoes yesterday, 2 sachets to 2 pounds of shin cooked in a slow cooker( not roasties, did them separately).Can’t recommend too much.I used to buy all the ingredients separately but the cost and time to source, was often prohibitley expensive.