Panang Curry Chicken

Ah, tasty, tasty Thai food. Best food on the planet! (Well, if it's not the best, it's way up there.) John and I are both lovers of Thai cuisine - his favorite would be the traditional Pad Thai, mine the slightly less common Panang Curry.

There are five types of Thai curries that I'm aware of: Red Curry, Yellow Curry, Green Curry, Panang Curry, Massaman Curry. In a Thai restaurant you will see a sixth, 'Jungle Curry', but this is simply one of the above (massaman typically, I believe), without the coconut milk. Panang curry is by far my favorite, because of the peanuts. The differences between them are simply ingredients, with massaman being a combination of Red, Green and Yellow.

I've blogged about Panang curry on here before - Panang fish. This version is the classic 'stew' variety, like what you would see in a Thai restaurant, with chunks of chicken, vegetables (zucchini in this version, egg plant is another common addition), and carrots. More traditionally (aka how Thai people really make panang), it should use beef.

Besides peanuts, you can't have panang curry without Kaffir Lime Leaf. I ordered these delicately scented leaves from Importfood.com, my favorite shop for Thai food ingredients. The leaves were delivered fresh to my door just two days after ordering. They freeze perfectly. Cut them into thin strips and add near the end of cooking. I used scissors to slice them. Some Thai restaurants leave the leaf whole, like Bay leaf. 

I also ordered palm sugar and fish sauce from importfood, requirements of most Thai recipes. (Homemade pad thai sauce, here we come!) The palm sugar is soft and easy to chop up. The shape of it kind of reminds me HFS from 21 Jump Street, however...

John found this recipe a little too spicy! I, on the other hand, am a glutton for punishment. At a restaurant I would have ordered it 'Thai Hot' and been dieing from the inside out. Literally. Could have been spicier, is what I'm getting at. 

If you want it less hot, use less curry paste. More hot, add some more. The original recipe for this, adapted from SheSimmers, originally called for 1/4 to 1/2 cup of paste!! Poor John, (and perhaps myself), would have died. THREE TABLESPOONS. That is all you need of panang curry paste. Add some ground up red chiles, or jalapeno slices (this can be reduced too, for the super sensitive). I buy ground up chili paste in a convenient little tube at my local Kroger. It's in the produce section. 

So goooooood. Makes great leftovers, too. Like chili - curry gets better with time.

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Panang Curry Chicken

Adapted from SheSimmers 
October-24-2012

Ingredients

• 1 lbs chicken, cut into 1" chunks
• 1 13.5 oz can coconut milk (Chaokoh is best)
• 3 TBS panang curry paste, imported
• 6 thinly sliced fresh kaffir lime leaves
• 1 TBS red chili paste
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup palm sugar
• 3 TBS natural peanut butter
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 decent sized shallot bulb, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. In a saucepan, set over medium-high heat, heat up the coconut "head" (the thick part that rises to the top of the can) along with the curry paste, stirring constantly.2. When the mixture starts bubbling up around the edges and the coconut cream starts to separate, stop stirring and let it boil gently.3. Turn the heat up a little and add the chicken chunks and vegetables. Stir to make sure all is coated with the curry sauce.4. Add what remains in the coconut can, and add enough water to completely cover chicken and vegetables.5. Add fish sauce and chopped palm sugar to the pot and bring the whole thing to a boil.6. Immediately turn the heat down and let the curry simmer gently, covered, for half and hour. Check on it occasionally to make sure it doesn't scorch, and that all meat and vegetables are covered.7. After 30 minutes. Give it a stir, remove the lid, and let the braising liquid reduce down to desired consistency.8. Once the liquid has reduced, stir in the peanut butter, half of the julienned kaffir lime leaves, and the chili paste. Add more fish sauce and palm sugar if needed. Remove from heat.9. Serve sprinkled with remaining kaffir lime leaf strips and rice.