Quick Vegetable Massaman Curry

This vegetable Massaman curry gives you the best of both worlds: a full-flavored and ultra-comforting curry that’s also unfussy enough to whip up on any weeknight.

Massaman curry is traditionally made with larger pieces of meat from the cuts that require low-and-slow cooking for a long time, as well as either waxy potatoes or Asian white-fleshed sweet potatoes. Influenced by Persian cuisine, the fragrant, salty, sweet, and sour curry is typically perfumed with lots of dried spices and flavored with fish sauce, palm sugar, and tamarind.

Instead of Massaman curry paste, which can be time-consuming to make from scratch, this recipe—based on the one my aunt created in the 1970s, when she lacked access to Thai groceries—uses store-bought red curry paste (we recommend a reputable Thai brand, such as Mae Ploy or Maesri). Brown sugar is a handy replacement for palm sugar, while the tart Granny Smith apple stands in for the sour tamarind. Add to all of that a mélange of hearty root vegetables, winter squash, and the autumnal spices of cinnamon and star anise, and you have a very fall-friendly meal that will take you less than an hour to make.