Looking for a knockout Sunday roast recipe with a difference? Try these massaman beef cheeks! Slow-cooked tender beef with super crispy roast potatoes, fresh green beans and a ‘gravy’ that’s full of authentic Thai massaman curry flavours. Family food at its best.
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 x beef cheeks, roughly 250g (9 oz) each
sea salt, to season
½ jar Marion’s Kitchen Massaman Curry Paste
200ml (7 fl oz) coconut milk
1 tsp fish sauce, plus extra to taste if needed
Super crispy roast potatoes
4 medium-sized Dutch cream potatoes, peeled, halved
250g (9 oz) lard (vegetable or beef lard is fine)
300g (10.5 oz) green beans, trimmed
- To prepare, preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
- Place a large frying pan over high heat and add the vegetable oil. Add beef cheeks to pan and sear on one side for 4–5 minutes or until a nice crust is formed. Flip and repeat on the over side. Transfer the beef cheeks to a deep baking dish (make sure you reserve all those lovely pan juices) and season generously all over with sea salt.
- Add the curry paste to the pan juices and turn the heat back onto medium. Stir and warm through the curry paste for 1 minute to release all the aromas until it all starts smelling beautiful. Now go in with the coconut milk, fish sauce and 1 cup of water. Stir and continue cooking until the mixture just simmers, adding a little more fish sauce to taste if needed. Pour the curry sauce over the top of the beef cheeks. Cover the baking dish with a layer of baking paper, followed by a layer of foil, then transfer to the oven. Cook for 6 hours or until cheeks are fall-apart tender.
- Meanwhile, for the super-crispy roast potatoes, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook potatoes for 10 minutes or until tender, then drain in a strainer. Cover potatoes with a tea towel and vigorously shake to rough up the edges and make them craggly – this will help them get nice and crispy. Allow the potatoes to completely cool and dry out under the tea towel.
- Place the lard In a separate large saucepan or frying pan over medium-high heat until the lard has melted and is hot.
- Carefully add the potatoes to the hot lard. Moving them around constantly, cook the potatoes for 5 minutes until the edges are ultra crispy and golden brown. Transfer to a tray lined with paper towel and sprinkle with some sea salt.
- Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil. Cook green beans for 2 minutes or until tender, then drain.
- Remove beef cheeks from the oven and transfer to serving plates. Whisk the remaining sauce until well incorporated, then drizzle over beef cheeks. Serve with crispy potatoes and green beans.
