Panang Curry (Beef)

• servings: 6 servings
• active time: 10 minutes
• total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds beef. Choose tender cuts of beef for this recipe and slice them into small pieces.

1/4 cup Thai Panang curry paste. Use Mae Ploy massaman curry paste, Aroy-D brand, or Maesri brand.

1 can of coconut milk. 14 ounces

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar. White, palm, brown, coconut sugar.

2 tablespoons fish sauce.

1/2 cup peanuts. Add more if desired, up to 1/3 cups and some for garnishing.

2 large kaffir lime leaves. Julienned the leaves and saved a few garnishing

1-2 chile peppers, sliced long and thin. Optional. Use as garnishes instead.

1 tablespoon oil. Use avocado, vegetable, canola, or coconut oil.

Directions

Add oil and curry paste on medium heat in a soup pot, Dutch oven, or a large wok. Stir fry the paste, and break up any large clumps until fragrant. It takes about 1-2 minutes.

Add the coconut milk and stir until you have a thick coconut cream sauce, about 2-3 mins.

Season your sauce with fish, sugar, and sliced kaffir lime leaves. Stir and cook for a minute.

Add the beef, and stir until all the pieces are covered in the golden thick sauce. Lower the heat slightly if the curry is getting too thick too quickly. Cook for 5 minutes.

Last, add the peanuts to the pot, then stir well. Carefully taste the curry and adjust the flavors as needed. Use fish sauce for saltiness, Sugar to sweeten it up, a bit of water, or coconut milk for more liquid. Serve over jasmine rice. Enjoy!

Notes

Cutting the meat into smaller pieces helps the meat to cook quicker.

Panang curries are typically not spicy. But if you'd like some heat, add sliced red chilies to the curry during the cooking process or as a garnish.

Use sweet red bell pepper instead for less heat, and it adds a pop of color to the color.

Peanut butter is an ok substitute for crushed peanuts. It makes the curry more creamy and thick. I've seen plenty of recipes using it, and in a pinch, it works fine, but the nutty and light crunch of peanuts adds an extra depth of flavor and experience to your Panang curry (:

If using lighter protein like tofu, fish, or shrimp, cut the cooking time to about 4 minutes each, as the protein can get too tough and chewy if cooked too long.

Garnishing options:

Add fresh basil leaves, sliced kaffir lime leaf pieces, sliced red pepper, or hot pepper for more heat.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1.5 cups
• Calories: 303
• Total Fat: 19.4 g
• Saturated Fat: 11.6 g
• Trans Fat: 0.1 g
• Cholesterol: 56.5 mg
• Sodium: 643.2 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 9.1 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1 g
• Total Sugars: 6.1 g
• Protein: 24.2 g