Massaman Beef Curry

An amazingly simple gourmet Thai meal

Trust me, it’s WAY more awesome than it looks in the pic that my crappy Galaxy S5 took on my recent hike.  That phone by the way was traded in to the folks at the Verizon store yesterday, and is probably on its way to being repurposed as a drug dealer phone.  But I digress….

Mule said this was hands down his favorite meal on last week’s section hike, and I’m not going to argue with him.  We ate almost all of it, holding back just a small amount for Homer the dumbass bear dog.  Consider the recipe below adequate for two hungry hikers.

You’ll probably need to order a couple of the ingredients from Amazon, for sure the Mae Ploy Massaman paste:

INGREDIENTS:

1 packet Mae Ploy Massaman Curry Paste

4-5 oz. freeze-dried chunk beef (I prefer Redwick’s)

2 packets Chao Thai coconut milk powder (60 gram size)

2 packets of Packit Gourmet beef broth

1/2 of the bag containing potatoes from a Betty Crocker au gratin potatoes box

1/4 cup dehydrated cross-cut carrots from North Bay Trading Co. (or similar)

at least 1/2 cup dry roasted UNSALTED peanuts

3/4 cup basmati rice

Optional:  dash of tamarind paste, big pinch of palm sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the rice in a 0.6L pot (or similar) with 1 1/2 cups water.  Set in pot cozy when cooked, if you have one.

While the rice is cooking, throw some water in the bags containing the potatoes, carrots and beef to rehydrate them a bit.

Fill larger pot (approx. 1.3L) with 2 1/2 cups water and begin to heat it.  Once the water is warm, mix in the entire contents of the curry paste pouch, both pouches of Chao Thai and both packets of beef broth.  Bring to a simmer.

Then add the beef and vegetables plus the tamarind paste if you use it.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Add the palm sugar near the end.  Have your trekking poles handy to fend off the horde of folks trying to yogi your food.

Serve over rice.  Top with peanuts.  Revel in the envy of other hikers in your presence.

The finished product will look something like this: