Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen S2Asian

Beef Massaman Curry Pie

Name: Beef Massaman Curry Pie
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 900g beef chuck, cut into 1inch bite sized pieces; 2 small onions, finely sliced; 300g potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces; 200g carrots; 1 can of coconut milk; 200ml beef stock; 40g palm sugar (or light brown sugar); 1tbsp fish sauce; 2tbsp tamarind concentrate; 100g roasted salted peanuts; 1/2tsp salt; 1 sheet of ready to roll puff pastry; Massaman Paste:; 1tbsp cumin seeds; 1tbsp coriander seeds; 8 cardamom seeds; 4 cloves; 5 dried small red chillies, presoak for 10-15mins in water; ½ tsp salt; 2 banana shallots; 5 cloves garlic, crushed; 2 inch galangal, peeled and sliced; 3 stalks of lemongrass, white parts only, finely sliced; 1/4tsp ground cinnamon; 1/4tsp turmeric; 1/2tsp white pepper; 1 tsp shrimp paste (or 1 tbsp fish sauce)

Eva PauFrom the series · Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen S2

80 min totalServes 4Medium

Time80 min

Serves4

SkillMedium

ShowEva Pau's Asian Kitchen

Method

Start by making the paste. In a small shallow frying pan, add the cumin, coriander seeds, cloves and cardamom. Fry on low heat for 2mins until the spices have released their aroma. Add this into a blender, along with all the other massaman paste ingredients.

In a hot wok, add 2tbsp of oil. When hot, add in the paste and fry for a minute until fragrant. Then add in the onions and fry for a further 2mins.

Add the beef and stir fry for 3mins, then add the potatoes and carrots and fry for 2mins.

Add the coconut milk, stock, palm sugar, 1tbsp fish sauce, tamarind, peanuts and 1/2tsp salt. Simmer on low to medium heat with the lid on for 20mins then lid off for a further 30mins or until the beef is tender and the sauce has reduced down.

Spoon the beef curry into a casserole dish and allow to cool. Then roll over the ready made puff pastry and crimp it around the edges to stop any overflow while cooking. Brush it with some egg wash and place it in a preheated oven at 190 degrees for 20-25mins until the pastry is golden brown. Ready to serve.

Cook's notes

Soak the dried chillies in water for 10 to 15 minutes before blending so they soften enough to blitz smooth.
Toast the whole spices on a low heat just until the aroma comes up — a couple of minutes at most; push them further and the paste turns bitter.
Finely chop the lemongrass for the paste — unusually, it stays in the dish and gets eaten rather than fished out, so you want no woody pieces.
No shrimp paste? A tablespoon of fish sauce stands in — it's that deep savoury punch you're after.
I'll often make up the curry in advance and keep it in the fridge — the flavours deepen, the cooled filling sits neatly under the pastry, and after a long day dinner is just a 20 to 25 minute bake away.

Serve with There's potato and carrot in the filling already, so it's close to a full plate; a little steamed jasmine rice or some greens on the side is plenty.

Make ahead & storage The curry filling is better made a day ahead — the flavours deepen overnight — then topped and baked to order. Leftover baked pie keeps two to three days and is best reheated in a hot oven to re-crisp the pastry.

Asian

Recipe by Eva Pau · From the series Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen S2 · Photography © Appetite Media
Published 13 July 2026 · Updated 15 July 2026

Nutrition

Per serving · estimated

1058kcal

53gprotein

70gcarbs

67gfat

Approximate — calculated from the ingredient list using USDA food data. A guide, not a medical figure.

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