PANANG BEEF CURRY
Ah, the good ol’ days: when spending 30 bucks on Thai takeout was just your typical Wednesday night. Now, income-less, Thai food along with Chinese and pizza seems like quite the luxury. These days I’m making my own Thai food, and to be honest, not missing a thing. At home, I make Thai food the way I like it. Very spicy, fairly salty and just a little sweet. Such is the beauty of having curry pastes sitting in your freezer ready at your disposal. What seems like an exotic and esoteric cuisine on the surface is actually fairly simple to prepare at home.
I like to think of panang as a great beginner curry for those that are new to Thai cuisine. Reminiscent of everybody’s favorite peanut dipping sauce which accompanies the ubiquitous satay, panang is at once both bright and aromatic while at the same time, rich and comforting.
I’m lucky enough to live in San Francisco where I can find pretty much anything I need at any of the many Asian markets. However, if you love Thai food and can’t find a store that stocks such items as palm sugar, lime leaves, or good Thai coconut milk, check out www.importfood.com for everything you need (and then some).
PANANG BEEF CURRY
Once you have the hard part of making the paste out of the way, this curry comes together quite quickly. Make sure to use a good, full-fat brand of coconut milk when making this dish. The thick cream that settles at the top of each can is rich in oil and acts as the perfect stir-frying medium to bloom the curry paste’s aroma and flavors. Many panang recipes call for the addition of ground peanuts instead of peanut butter. Either makes a fine choice, but I love the velvety texture that comes from using the stuff in jars. Finally, adjust the final seasoning to your own tastes. Some people like their curry sweeter or saltier than others, so feel free to add more fish sauce or palm sugar along the way to fit your own palate.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 19 fl. oz can Thai coconut milk (I use Mae Ploy brand)
- 4-5 tablespoons homemade Panang curry paste
- 1 lb. beef cross rib roast, sliced 2 x 1/4 inch thick
- 3-4 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-natural peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
- 1/2 cup water
- 4-6 Thai chilies, split lengthwise
- 2-3 limes leaves cut into a chiffonade for garnish
- Lime wedges for garnish
METHOD:
- Skim the thick cream from the top of the can of coconut milk into a large saucepan, reserving the watery milk. Set the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir the cream vigorously until the glossy oil surfaces.
- Add the curry paste and continue to stir vigorously until fragrant and a red oil surfaces, about 2 minutes.
- Add in the sliced beef and stir to coat well with the curry mixture. Add in the remaining coconut milk, fish sauce, palm sugar, peanut butter, water and chilies. Stir to dissolve the the peanut butter and palm sugar and simmer over low heat for one hour, or until the curry has reduced into a thick sauce and the beef is very tender.
- Taste the curry for for salt and sweetness. If it needs more salt, add a few more dashes of fish sauce, if it needs to be sweeter, add more palm sugar.
- Transfer the curry to a serving bowl and garnish with the lime leaf chiffonade. Serve with lime wedges.
Serves 4
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This looks amazing! I have always wondered how to make Thai curries, and I think I could actually do this! Looks so tasty.
This is my hubby’s fav thing to order every time we go to a Thai restaurant … can’t go wrong with a beautiful beef curry like yours
This recipe sounds great, but I am too scared to try it. We bought fish sauce for 1 recipe and it was so foul, we threw away the entire meal, the bottle of fish sauce and had cereal for dinner.
I am a little hesitant to give it another try, even though I know that I love many things that include fish sauce. Any recommendations on brands/kinds of fish sauce to buy?
Leanna – Fish sauce can be pretty potent stuff. The pungent smell and salty taste is certainly not for everybody, but when used correctly and in balance with other ingredients, it adds a savory depth to food that is simply unobtainable using ordinary salt. There are many brands of fish sauce available and they are certainly not all created equal. Nobody on the web has more thorough notes on fish sauce brands than Andrea Nguyen at Viet World Kitchen. Check out this article for tips on how to buy, store and pick out a good quality fish sauce that is right for you. Don’t give up on fish sauce just yet!
Oh, Panang!! When I went to Thailand, this is all that my boyfriend and his cousin ate- they were crazy over it! Yours is wonderfully presented!
I can never quite get my coconut oil to be vibrant in color. It never seems to pick up much.
Wow!
I had this for dinner tonight. Well I should say four of us did. The Thai curry sauce turned out great. A lot of prep, but who cares. I truely believe this was better than at our local Thai place.
I used both creamy peanut butter and some ground nuts. I love thick currys, like some of the Indian ones. I’ll try this next time with chicken. Also going to use the curry sauce in with fish.
Chuck
Chuck – Glad to hear that you had such great results with this recipe. There is indeed a lot of prep involved, but I am sure you will agree that the work is well worth the final product. I find that there is something especially satisfying about putting together food like this at home. The sauce is so good that I too have wondered about other practical applications for it. Fish sounds like a great idea. Let me know how it turns out.