Rich, aromatic and beautifully comforting, this Beef Massaman Curry uses the Ninja 11-in-1 to turn diced beef tender in a fraction of the traditional cooking time. We build the flavour first by sealing the beef, softening the onion and cooking out the curry paste, then pressure-cook before adding the potatoes, beans and coconut cream for a gentle finish.
The result is a proper curry with tender beef, vegetables that still have some structure and a rich coconut sauce — without having a pot simmering away for hours.
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Easy–Intermediate
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: Approx. 35–40 minutes
Total Time: Approx. 50–55 minutes
Course: Main
Cuisine: Thai
Cooking Methods: Sauté + Pressure Cook
Appliance: Ninja 11-in-1
Membership: Kitchen Confidence
* Mae Ploy Massaman Curry Paste, Mae Ploy Coconut Cream and Bone Roasters Beef Stock are available from the Pantry at Underground Chef.
Set the Ninja 11-in-1 to Sauté mode and add the oil.
Once hot, add the diced beef and seal until nicely coloured on the outside. Work in batches if necessary — overcrowding the pot will make the beef stew rather than brown.
The beef does not need to be cooked through at this stage.
Remove the beef from the Ninja and set aside.
Add the diced brown onion to the pot and sauté until softened.
Add the Massaman curry paste and continue cooking until the paste becomes fragrant.
This little bit of cooking is important. We aren't simply stirring the paste into liquid — heating it first helps release all those aromatics and develops a much better curry base.
Pour in the beef stock and bring to the boil, using a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape all the caramelised beef, onion and curry paste from the bottom of the pot.
Don't leave those lovely brown bits behind — that's flavour.
Return the sealed beef to the pot.
Cancel Sauté mode and secure the pressure-cooker lid.
Set the Ninja to Pressure Cook for 15 minutes.
Once the cooking cycle has finished, safely release the pressure according to your Ninja instructions and remove the lid.
Test a piece of beef. It should be tender.
Remove the beef from the curry sauce and set aside while you cook the vegetables.
Return the Ninja to Sauté mode.
Add the sliced potatoes to the curry sauce and cook for approximately 6 minutes, or until they are just al dente.
You want them cooked but still holding their shape.
Add:
Gently stir everything together and continue cooking just long enough for the beans to become tender and the curry to heat through.
Do not allow the curry to boil once you have added the coconut cream.
Boiling can cause the coconut cream to split, leaving you with an oily rather than beautifully smooth curry sauce.
Reduce the heat if necessary and simply allow everything to gently come together.
Before serving, have a look at the consistency.
Add a small amount of water and stir through until you reach the consistency you want.
Make a small cornflour slurry with cornflour and cold water, then gradually stir it into the hot curry until the sauce lightly thickens.
Don't add dry cornflour directly to the curry — you'll end up chasing lumps around the pot.
Spoon steamed jasmine rice into individual bowls or plates and serve the Beef Massaman Curry alongside or over the rice.
Finish with:
For another lovely bit of texture, scatter roasted peanuts over the finished curry instead of — or as well as — the fried shallots.
That crunch against the soft beef, potatoes and rich coconut sauce works beautifully.
Colour the beef properly.
Colour means flavour. Give the beef room in the pot and seal it in batches if you need to.
Cook the curry paste.
Don't just add paste and immediately pour in the stock. Give it a moment in the heat until you can really smell those aromatics.
Deglaze the pot.
All those caramelised bits left after sealing the beef belong in your sauce, not stuck to the bottom of the Ninja.
Pressure-cook the beef, not everything.
Adding the potatoes and beans later gives you much better control over their texture.
Coconut cream goes in at the end.
Once it is in, think gentle heat — not a rolling boil.
Adjust the sauce last.
Too thick, add a little water. Too thin, use a small cornflour slurry.
No Ninja? You can make exactly the same curry in a heavy-based saucepan or casserole pot.
Allow approximately an additional hour of cooking time compared with the Ninja pressure-cooker method, depending on the cut and size of your beef.
The same Massaman curry base can be used with:
Use approximately the same quantity of meat, but remember that cooking times will change depending on the protein and cut you choose.
This is one of those recipes where, once you understand the technique, you can start making it your own.
Instead of fried shallots, finish the curry with roasted peanuts for a traditional-style crunch.
Or use a combination of fried shallots + coriander + roasted peanuts if you want all the bells and whistles.
Massaman Curry is a great make-ahead meal because the flavour continues to develop as it sits.
For the best texture, you can pressure-cook the beef and curry base ahead of time, refrigerate, then finish with the potatoes, beans and coconut cream when you are ready to serve.
If reheating a completely finished curry, use gentle heat and don't boil it because of the coconut cream.
This recipe is really about learning how to build a curry in stages rather than simply putting everything into a pressure cooker at once.
Colouring the beef creates additional flavour through caramelisation.
Heat helps release the aromatic oils and spices within the curry paste.
Adding stock and scraping the base of the pan incorporates all those concentrated caramelised flavours into your sauce.
The Ninja dramatically reduces the time required to tenderise the beef.
Adding the potato and beans after pressure cooking prevents them disappearing into the sauce.
Gentle heat keeps the sauce smooth and creamy rather than oily or split.
Learning how to correct a sauce that's too thick or too thin is one of those little skills you'll use over and over again.
The beef has already been pressure-cooked until tender. Removing it gives us better control over the potatoes and prevents the beef from being unnecessarily cooked while they soften.
High heat can cause coconut cream to separate. Once it has been added, gently heat the curry rather than bringing it back to a vigorous boil.
Absolutely. Follow the same flavour-building steps and gently simmer the beef until tender. Allow approximately an extra hour compared with the pressure-cooker version.
Add a little water at a time until you have the consistency you want.
Mix a small amount of cornflour with cold water to make a slurry and gradually stir it into the hot curry until it thickens.
Yes. Chicken, lamb and pork all work with the Massaman flavour base. Just adjust the cooking time to suit the cut of meat you are using.
Massaman Curry traditionally rewards a bit of time, but this is where the Ninja really earns its place in the kitchen.
We're not using the pressure cooker to take shortcuts with flavour. We still seal the beef, cook the curry paste and deglaze the pot properly — we're simply letting pressure do the long, slow tenderising work for us.
Then we take control again at the end: potatoes just cooked, beans with some texture and coconut cream gently folded through.
That's the difference between throwing everything in a pressure cooker and actually cooking with one.