DIY Take Out Thai: How to make panang curry.

Today is a big slushy disaster. We've had almost every form of precipitation, including frozen fog, in the last 24 hours. Right now everything is melting but it will all freeze into one huge horrible, chicken poop covered ice field by tomorrow morning. What to do? Make panang curry.

Is it like take out? Yep. Sooooo yummy!

I love that I have friends from all woks.. I mean.... walks of life. My pal, A., knew the secret to making take out style panang curry - it's the sauce. You have to get the right one and not the one that you usually find on the ill-equipped shelves of the midwest grocery stores. This is it, Maesri Thai Panang Curry Paste.Why this one? I don't know but this really is the secret to making panang curry like you get in restaurants.  Probably because of the spices it already has in it.

The directions couldn't be more simple - I used this recipe that my friend gave me. How easy is that? The best advice I got from my pal was to use just half of the can of curry paste for one can of coconut milk. I don't really like overly spicy food so this ratio was just perfect.

 Start by cooking the palm sugar and curry paste in a little oil (I used chicken fat).

The normal red curry sauce that is easily found on the shelves is just that - red curry. But I like panang curry which is a little bit different.  I was able to find this at one of the few Asian grocery stores we have in our nearest big city for about $1 per can. But I couldn't find it in any of the nearby grocery stores.

Then cook the meat in the paste.

You also need some fish sauce and coconut milk. I also used some palm sugar. It comes in a sold, cylindrical piece and I just cut off what I needed. I wish I could find Kaffir lime leaves (this is a 3 pack) but they aren't in any of our nearby stores. There is a chance I'll go into civilization this week but not if this weather doesn't improve. So I'll probably just order them (yay Amazon Prime!). Until then I'll just use a squeeze of lime juice.

 How fun is the palm sugar? It comes in a solid cylinder. You can substitute brown sugar.

I've made this a couple times and it was really much much better when I let it simmer over an hour. The meat was much more tender and delicious.

Add the coconut milk, bring to a simmer, then cook as along as you can. Or 20 minutes if you can't wait.

Is this as good as take out or restaurant style? I have to say... yep!  We were thrilled to finally get the secret to panang curry. Now I just need to work on my pad thai and we'll be set.

Happy Monday everyone! Are you in a big slushy mess? Are you making panang curry?


Editors note: Look out! I've got affiliate links and I'm not afraid to use them! What's gives with the affiliate links? I really couldn't find most of this stuff at my regular stores so I looked for them online and yay! I found it on Amazon. It's where I get all my hard to find items - even grocery stuff. They even have a thing called Prime Pantry where you can get a big box of grocery stuff shipped at special prices for a flat rate. Isn't that amazing? If you need hard to find grocery items you can just click one of these items or use the black Amazon search box on the side of the page and I will get a tiny potion of the sale. Why? It's just a way Amazon promotes their products and services.  It can be anything - books, movies, a jackhammer, or something you need from Amazon anyway.  If you like this blog, or if I've helped you at all in your farming efforts, just make a purchase from Amazon from one of the links, my store, or the black Amazon search box on the right side of this page. I can't see who purchases what or any of the details. THANKS for your support!