Panang Curry with Jasmine Rice
Prep: 10 Minutes | Cook: 30 Minutes | Resting Time: Overnight (if serving cold) | Total: 40 mins (hot), 24 hours (cold)
Makes 8 Servings
Ingredients
2 tbsp Panang Curry Paste
½ Onion, sliced
½ Bell Pepper, sliced
½ Green Squash, sliced
14oz Can of Organic Coconut Milk
(Optional) 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
(Optional) Juice of 1/2 lime
(Optional) ½ lb Chicken Thighs, sliced
2 Cups Rice
Recipe Summary
Wash rice and cook in rice cooker
Heat panang curry paste until fragrant
Add half of the coconut milk
Add vegetables and allow them to soften while cooking in the curry
After the vegetables are tender add the rest of the coconut milk
Recipe
Wash and steam rice prior to cooking the curry. In a rice cooker, rice takes about 25 minutes to cook, so usually the dish will be complete right as the rice finishes cooking
Heat a deep pan at low-medium heat. Put 2 tbsp curry paste into the pan until it is fragrant. Make sure not to heat it too long or you may end up burning the paste.
Pour 1/2 of the can of coconut milk into the pan and dissolve the curry paste in the milk. Bring the mixture to a simmer and lower the heat to low.
If using chicken, add the chicken to the mixture here. Chicken takes longer to cook than vegetables, so you’ll want to make sure you give the chicken an extra 5 minutes of cooking time (cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of chicken you cut).
Add onion, bell peppers and squash to the curry mixture. Cook until they become a little soft, but not mushy (5-7 minutes). Add remaining coconut milk into the pan and mix thoroughly.
While Panang curry is delicious on it’s own, adding fish sauce and lime juice bring out some additional freshness and brightness to the curry. This is an optional step, but adds additional layers of flavor to the dish.
Serve curry with rice on the side.
Why the Recipe Works
Panang Curry is a perfect example of the Thai cuisine’s goal of using all 5 flavors in a meal. There are a lot of different ingredients that make up panang curry: chili peppers, coriander, cumin, cardamom, cilantro root, garlic, peppercorns, shrimp paste, galangal, and lime leaves. Coconut milk both balances and brings out a lot of the flavor from the curry due to the additional fat added to the dish. The slightly sweet flavor of coconut milk also balances out the spicy and savory flavors of the curry.