Easy and Quick Chicken Panang Curry Recipe

Easy and Quick Chicken Panang Curry Recipe

When we are talking about Thai curry types, we will find many types of curry. All of them offer savory and delicious taste. However, they have different level of spiciness. If you want to enjoy spicy and nutty Thai curry, you must try chicken Panang curry. With my 20-minute recipe, you will be able serve better than restaurant curry to your dining table easily.

What is Panang Curry?

Panang, or Phanaeng, curry is a type of curry that is originated from Phanaeng Island located in the west coast of Malaysia. This Thai cuisine is spicy, but not as spicy as red or green curry. However, if you want to make it spicier, you can add more red dried chili peppers in the ingredients. It is also savory, nutty, sweet, and creamy.

1. What is the Main Ingredient?

In general, the main ingredient of this curry is meat. Meanwhile, I use chicken meat as the main ingredient of my Panang curry recipe. The use of this meat in this particular curry is popular among the Thais. It is popular because most of them love chicken meat.

However, many people also love to have beef as the main ingredient of this curry. Some people do not add vegetables on this dish. However, I love to add some green peas in it so that I have a more balanced diet. As an alternative, you can also add baby carrots in this curry if you hate green peas.

2. Can You Substitute the Main Ingredient?

Yes is the answer. It is true that the traditional version of this curry uses meat as the main ingredient. Nevertheless, if you are a vegan or semi-vegan, you can replace the meat with other ingredients. For example, you can use tofu or tempeh. It is also a good idea to add it with bamboo shoots, cabbage, green peas, eggplants, and carrots.

It is important to note that the ingredient of this curry contains fish sauce. As a vegetarian, you can skip it. Therefore, you only use salt to season the Phanaeng curry. Moreover, the curry paste also contains shrimp paste. As a result, you may also need to skip it.

3. The Best Dish to Serve With This Curry

This particular curry is best eaten with steamed rice, especially when it is warm. For best result, you had better serve it with steamed Thai Jasmine rice. The nice fragrance of this rice complements the spicy sweet curry very well.

4. Instant Curry Paste

Cooking this type of curry from scratch takes lots of time. It also needs many ingredients, especially the curry paste. Some of the ingredients of the paste are dried red chili peppers, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom, mace, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, black peppers, cilantro roots, galangal, and shrimp paste.

However, you can cut the time and the ingredients by using Panang curry paste. If you have this product, it will allow you to save time in preparing the paste ingredient and cooking it. You can get this product in Asian market or online shop. I usually choose canned curry paste because it is available in smaller size.

When I have curry paste leftover, I can store it easily in the fridge. To make it last for a month, I wrap the canned curry paste with a plastic wrap and place the wrapped can in the fridge. Therefore, I do not need to buy another one if i want to make Phanaeng curry.

The Differences between Panang Curry and Red Curry

At a glance, the Panang type looks like red curry. Many people cannot distinguish the two curry types. It is said that Phanaeng curry is part of the red curry. However, they actually have slightly different ingredients.

In the red curry paste, you will not taste nutty flavor because it does not use roasted peanut. The Panang type uses this ingredient. Moreover, the Phanaeng curry is sweeter than the red one. In consequence, you will need sugar to cook this particular curry. The Panang type is also thicker in texture and lighter in color than the red one.

Cooking the Curry in 20 Minute

Can you make it in 20 minute? Yes, you can. Some of you may not believe it since there are many ingredients used in cooking Thai curry. In addition, it takes time to get the meat tender. However, if you perform certain tricks in cooking the Phanaeng curry, you can serve it in 20 minutes, or even less. I have tried the tricks and they work great.

1. Choose Chicken Breast as the Main Ingredient

To cut the cooking time, it is better for you to choose to make chicken Phanaeng curry than the beef one. Chicken meat is tenderer. Therefore, it does not take too much time to cook it.

2. Cut the the Meat in Smaller Cuts

For a quicker cooking, you must cut the meat in smaller cuts. When you have smaller chicken meat cuts, you do not need a lot of time to get them tender and juicy. This trick is also applicable if you make beef Phanaeng curry.

20-Minute Chicken Panang Curry Recipe

Easy-to-made chicken Panang curry with green peas. It is better and tastier than the ones you get from Thai restaurants.

Course              : Thai main course

Cuisine             : Curry

Keyword           : Panang Curry

Prep Time         : 10 minutes

Cook Time        : 10 minutes

Total Time         : 20 minutes

Servings           : 2

Calories            : 341/serving

Ingredients:

• A boneless and skinless chicken breast
• 2 tablespoons of Panang curry I use curry paste from Maesri.
• 1 tablespoon of cooking oil
• ¼ cup of water
• ½ cup of coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• ½ cup of frozen green peas

Instructions:

1. Cut the chicken breast into small cubes.
2. Heat up a pot and pour in the cooking oil
3. Next, add the curry paste into the hot pot.
4. Saute the curry paste until it is aromatic.
5. Add the chicken breast to the aromatic curry paste. Blend them well.
6. Add the kaffir lime leaves, don’t forget to crush it a bit, and coconut milk, sugar, water, fish sauce, and green peas.
7. Let the curry simmer for 10 minutes in medium heat.
8. Serve the curry with steamed rice while it is hot.

My 20-minute chicken Panang Curry is very easy to make, even for beginners in Thai cuisine. If you are adept in cooking, you will even need less than 20 minutes to make this dish. Moreover, with the instant curry paste, you will get the taste right, better than the curry served in restaurants. This particular curry is great for lunch and dinner.