Since it opened in 2011, Chin Chin has delivered a full-throttle dining experience. It’s fun and it’s always buzzing – but, most importantly, its food is consistently banging. That’s thanks to executive chef Benjamin Cooper whose creative, well-researched approach to Southeast Asian food has turned Chin Chin – both in Melbourne and Sydney – into a key Aussie dining destination.
The restaurant has just released its third cookbook, Still Hungry. It’s frontloaded with Chin Chin signatures, including its kingfish sashimi, chilli-salt chicken wings and butter chicken. Sift past those recipes and you’ll hit on other favourites, as well as dishes inspired by Cooper and his team’s travels to Thailand and beyond. Handily for Southeast Asian-cooking novices, it also details key pantry staples, a glossary of ingredients, tips for nailing Thai cooking skills and hints for how to season, Thai-style.
“Inside this book is a celebration of everything I love about food – the intriguing spices, the heat and fire of chilli, the punch of sour notes, the bold savoury depths, and the tempering balance of sweetness,” writes Cooper at the start of the book. They’re all descriptions that could be applied to the restaurant’s massaman curry, which has remained a must-order for years. “It’s rich, it’s coconutty and it’s got its own diehard fan base. Just look to the 500-plus serves that sail off the pass each week.”
It’s a long process, but worth it for beautifully tender beef wrapped in that unctuous, spice-spiked sauce. Just make sure you read through the method before you start.
Chin Chin’s massaman curry
Serves 4
Preparation time: 40 minutes, plus overnight marinating, 30 minutes soaking
Cooking time: 5 hours
Ingredients
750g beef brisket, cut into 3 equal portions
½ cup (125ml) kecap manis
⅓ cup (80ml) vegetable oil
400ml coconut cream, plus extra to garnish
Large pinch of salt
1–2 golden or red shallots, sliced
80g fresh pineapple, chopped
1 tbsp grated palm sugar
70g peanuts, chopped, plus 2 tbsp extra, chopped, to garnish
2–3 tbsp fish sauce
3 kipfler potatoes, boiled, peeled, cut into bite-sized pieces
Roti, to serve
Tamarind water (makes 250ml, this recipe requires 2 tbsp)
¼ cup (60ml) tamarind pulp (available as “bricks” in Asian grocers
1 cup (250ml hot water)
Crispy shallots (makes about 1 cup, this recipe requires 3 tbsp)
7–8 red or golden shallots, finely sliced
2 cups (500ml) vegetable oil
Braising liquid
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 knobs galangal, chopped
1 stalk lemongrass (pale part only), chopped
1 long red chilli, chopped
¼ red onion, chopped
1¼ cups (310ml) coconut cream
2 cups (500ml) water
½ cup (125ml) chicken stock
⅓ cup (80ml) fish sauce
50g grated palm sugar
Massaman curry paste (makes about 3½ cups, this recipe requires ⅓ cup)
10 large dried red chillies, soaked, seeded, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 large knob of galangal
1 stalk lemongrass (white part only)
4 coriander roots, scraped and chopped
½ cup roasted peanuts
3 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
4 tsp cloves
1 knob of nutmeg, finely grated
½ tsp mace powder
2 pieces cassia bark
Seeds from 1 cardamom pod
Large pinch of salt
Method
Place the beef in a dish and brush all over with the kecap manis. Set aside for a few hours or overnight, if possible, to marinate. Wipe off any excess sauce, then heat a frying pan over medium heat with a little oil, add the beef and pan-sear on all sides until golden. Set aside.
Meanwhile, to make the tamarind water, mix the tamarind pulp with the hot water and let it soak for about 30 minutes. Work the pulp with your fingers to help it dissolve. Strain, forcing through as much pulp as you can with a spoon. Discard leftover solids. You can make extra and freeze it in ice-cube trays then defrost and use as necessary.
For the crispy shallots, put the shallots or garlic slices into a wok with the cold oil. Place over medium heat and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often, until the slices are golden. Remove with a slotted spoon, and spread over paper towel to drain. Shake onto another sheet of paper towel and rake with a fork. You want to remove as much oil as possible. You can store leftovers in an airtight container for 3 days.
Meanwhile, get the braising liquid started by heating the oil in a large, heavy-based ovenproof dish over medium heat. Add the galangal, lemongrass, chilli and red onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes to release the aromas, then add the coconut cream, water, stock, fish sauce and palm sugar. Bring to the boil, ensuring the sugar dissolves, then simmer for 2–3 minutes
To make the curry paste, blitz the chilli, onion, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, coriander root and peanuts to form a paste. Grind remaining ingredients and mix into the first paste. You may need to add some water to help combine it properly. Refrigerate leftovers for up to 2 weeks, or freeze in portions.
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Add the beef to the dish of braising liquid, then cover and place in the oven. Braise for about 3 hours or until very tender. Turn off the heat and leave the brisket to cool in the liquid. Once cooled, remove the beef, reserving the liquid, and cut into large bite-sized pieces.
Add half the coconut cream, 2 tbsp of the oil and a large pinch of salt to a heavy-based pan over medium heat. Once the cream starts to separate and the oils split out, add the curry paste and increase the heat slightly. You’ll begin to smell the spices cooking straight away, but because the paste is made from mainly hard ingredients it will take a while to cook out properly (about 1 hour). The paste will also start to split when it’s nearly done. While it’s cooking, continue to stir the curry so that it doesn’t stick to the pan and burn.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a separate frying pan and slowly cook the shallot until golden. Add the pineapple and cook for about 15–20 minutes until jammy, then add the palm sugar and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Add the pineapple and shallot caramel to the curry paste. This will reincorporate the paste for a while, so you’ll need to keep cooking until the oil separates again.
Add ½ cup (125ml) of the reserved braising liquid and bring to the boil. Stir through the remaining coconut cream, the peanuts and half of the fish sauce and tamarind water. Simmer for 5 minutes to give the sauce a nutty flavour, taste to check seasoning and balance with fish sauce and/or tamarind water as needed. You might even like to add some extra coconut cream.
Add the potato and simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir in the beef and continue to simmer for a couple of minutes, ensuring the meat is warmed through.
Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with coconut cream, crispy shallots and peanuts, and serve with roti on the side.
This is an edited extract from Still Hungry with recipes by Benjamin Cooper, out now, RRP$55.
