The Massaman curry paste....

Thai cuisine is  heavily influenced by Indian spices and flavors.
A Curry is called gaeng phet in Thai. In Thai gaeng means liquid and refers to both soups and curries and phet means hot in the incendiary sense. The Massaman curry hails from the south of Thailand and is different from other Thai curries because of its Indian influence.
A typical Thai meal includes four main seasonings is salty, sweet, sour, and spicy.
Red, Green, and Yellow are the colors of the three most popular Thai curry pastes.
Curry is a favorite dish in Thai restaurants throughout the world and for good reason.
In Thailand, curry is usually a soupy dish consisting of coconut milk or water, curry paste and meat. Thai curries tend to be more soup like. Also  Curries are the richest dish of Thai cuisine.
The flavoring for Massaman curry is called Massaman curry paste . The dish usually contains coconut milk, roasted peanuts or cashews, potatoes, bay leaves, cardamom pods, cinnamon, star anise, palm sugar, fish sauce,chili and tamarind sauce.  The dish is served with rice and sometimes with pickled ginger or "achat"  an accompaniment made with cucumber and chili peppers marinated in vinegar.
Use this warm and flavorful curry paste to make a wonderful chicken, beef, or lamb Massaman curry
or even a delightful vegetarian curry by adding  tofu plus lots of vegetables.
Thai Massaman is a yellow curry that features warm spices such as cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg,  lemongrass, fish sauce.  
In Thailand there are basically two broad categories of curry, the first water based and coconut milk based. The most typical water based curry is sour curry (gaeng sohm plah) often prepared with fish. Typically the sourness comes from tamarind or other types of sour fruits. Jungle curry (gaeng pah) is another delicious water based vegetable curry cooked with or without meat, which is usually very spicy. .
Thai coconut based curries are many  and more well known in the West with red, green, yellow,
panang and massaman  being the most well known curries.
Make a easy massaman curry paste ....
Grind in a mixer jar to get this lovely paste. One will need  dry roasted peanuts, unsalted, shallots, sliced,  cloves garlic, peeled, red chilies, a piece galangal (or ginger), thinly sliced, lemongrass, minced,  ground coriander, ground cumin n whole cumin seeds,  nutmeg,  nutmeg,  cinnamon, cloves,  cardamom,  fish sauce,  little  shrimp paste,  brown sugar and  coconut milk.
Storage tip.
This Curry pastes can be stored in a jar or other covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks and can freeze thereafter.
When ready to use, add coconut milk to make a sauce, then add your other ingredients.
A vegetarian recipe of the  Massaman Curry Paste..
Ingredients needed are galangal [ginger ], garlic, shallots, lemongrass, cloves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper corns, cinnamon stick, grated nutmeg, few red chillies, kaffir lime leaf chopped and soybean paste.
Quickly dry roast coriander seed, chillies,  cumin seed, peppercorns, cinnamon, and cloves on medium  heat until slightly browned , then add  nutmeg  and grind all rest of ingredients in a mixer  grinder to get a fine paste.
Store in the refrigerator for a few weeks.