Massaman Curry

For the dried curry powder:
 
Place the dried chili peppers, cloves, 1 stick cinnamon, 6 cardamom seeds, nutmeg, and bay leaves in a dry cast iron skillet on medium-high heat and stir until fragrant. Don’t burn. Let dry goods cool and place in a coffee grinder until well ground. This ground mixture is now a wonderful “curry powder” and can be used in all sorts of dishes.
 
For the curry paste:
 
Fry garlic and shallots in oil until browned. Add ground dried curry powder to these wet ingredients and stir thoroughly; optimally you would use a mortar and pestle. Alternatively, put it in a food processor and blend to a thick paste.
 
For the Massaman Curry:
 
Prepare tofu in your favorite manner: Either cut into chunks, or fry chunks lightly in oil. Place the potatoes, coconut milk, peanuts, and soy sauce/fish sauce into a wok or saucepan.  Cook/boil until potatoes are just tender. Raise temperature and reduce volume of sauce. Add tofu, curry paste, cinnamon stick and cardamom. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in tamarind, FolkFoods Master Sauce if using, water, lime juice, and brown sugar.
This can now be served over jasmine rice or over a flatbread and garnished with basil and more peanuts. Yum!
 
Variations: You can add fresh minced ginger to the wet mix of the curry paste. You can also add additional vegetables to the curry (pineapple is sometimes used in this curry).