Recipe: Porkfat Chef Narin Kulasai’s Wagyu Massaman Curry

At his Sydney restaurant Porkfat, chef Narin “Jack” Kulasai is known for cooking unapologetically rich dishes that lean on lard, herbs, spices and house-made curry paste. But for home cooks aiming to capture that depth of flavour, he recommends another pantry staple: Valcom curry paste.

“I totally understand that when people cook at home they probably use a lot more shortcuts,” Kulasai says – but that doesn’t have to mean compromising on the final product. “I believe in the quality of Valcom Massaman Curry Paste.”

It uses shrimp paste, a staple in Thai cuisine that’s oft-forgotten or left out in home-cooking recipes – but an essential for authentic Thai dishes, and responsible for giving massaman curry that deep, rich umami flavour.

Likely brought south via spice traders from Persia and India, massaman was further influenced by Malay cooks around Thailand’s southern border. The original curry included dry spices – such as cumin, cloves, nutmeg, mace and cassia – suited to West Asian climates, but cooks in Thailand reworked it with the fresh aromatics of Southeast Asia.

“When it came to Thailand, it was adapted to Thai-style curry,” Kulasai says. “Thai people added local herbs like lemongrass, galangal and [makrut] lime leaf to make the curry more aromatic.” Luckily, many of those ingredients can be found in the Valcom curry paste.

To get the most out of the bottled paste, Kulasai blooms it in pork oil (though you can use any cooking oil at home) to release the fragrances before adding coconut milk, tamarind and pineapple puree, palm sugar and fish sauce for a balance of sweet, sour and savoury.

“It’s not just the curry paste that matters, but how you cook it as well. It needs to be combined with the proper techniques.”

He also uses high-grade Wagyu, rather than the standard beef brisket, for extra complexity. The result is aromatic, gently spiced and rich but balanced – showing how a good curry paste, with a few thoughtful additions, can bring restaurant-quality flavour into the home kitchen.

Recipe: Narin Kulasai’s Wagyu brisket massaman curry

Serves 8
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours

Ingredients

2kg Wagyu point-end brisket (a marbling score of 5–6 is best)
¾ cup fish sauce
2 tsp white sugar
3L water
1 tbsp salt
2 cups roasted peanuts
5 cassia sticks
15 bay leaves
250cc (about 220g) pork oil (can swap for coconut oil)
500g Valcom Massaman Curry Paste (1 jar holds 210g)
250g palm sugar
2.5L coconut cream
½ cup tamarind puree
2 cups pineapple puree
5 whole French shallots, deep-fried until golden
500g sweet potato, boiled until soft (about 15 minutes) and cut into bite-size pieces
2 French shallots, sliced and deep-fried, to garnish

Method

Cut brisket into 7-centimetre cubes and place in a bowl. Mix the white sugar with 2 tablespoons of the fish sauce and pour evenly over beef cubes to marinate (about 10 minutes).

Sear or grill marinated beef until brown, then set aside.

Bring the water to a boil in a medium pot and add salt, peanuts, cassia and bay leaves. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the meat. Simmer for an hour or two, until tender, then remove beef. Retain poaching liquid and set aside.

Heat pork oil in a medium pan. Add massaman paste and fry until fragrant. Add palm sugar and remaining fish sauce, and fry until nicely caramelised.

Slowly add the coconut cream, stirring continually until it’s well combined. Mix in cooked beef and peanuts, then pour in poaching liquid until you reach the desired texture. Add tamarind and pineapple puree, then bring curry to a simmer and cook for around 30 minutes.

Add whole shallots and sweet potato.

Serve with steamed rice and garnish with fried shallots.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Valcom.