Panang Curry

I thawed out some chicken last night and have to cook something with it soon.

It's time for some Thai Curry - George's way.

What is that do you ask? Well... whatever vegetables I have in the fridge that have to go, usually find their way in there. That's my kind of curry.

I try to limit the mess I make by cooking the majority of it in one sauce pan. A pot can be used as well. Using one cooking vessel for everything helps layer the flavors by keeping all of those wonderful juices in the pan.

I don't make my paste from scratch. What is the point when you have a product that is as good as the one below? At any Asian market, you will find this delicious paste: "Brand MAESRI".

I love Maesri. I need to give a thank you kiss to that 'lil old lady on the can.

It comes in red, green, yellow, panang and massaman and probably others too. You don't need to be sitting there grinding up spices and chilis when you have ready made quality like this.

I'm going with the Panang Curry today. The paste consists of chilies, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, sugar salt, kaffir lime, galangal, coriander, cardamon and bay leaves.

With any of these pastes, all you need is your meat (I usually use chicken), coconut milk and some veggies. It is so easy to make.

Let's see what's in the fridge!

Today's Panang Curry


- 1 Can of Maesri Panang Curry Paste
- 2 Cans of Coconut Milk
- 3 Chicken Breasts
- 2 Diced Onions
- 1 Large Carrot
- 1 Cubed Potato
- 2 Sliced Peppers (One Red, One Orange)
- A few tbsp. of oil
- Salt
- Bay Leaf

Let's do this!

Alright. One pot. Let's do this. Every step requires a bit of seasoning. Don't over do the salt though. Just add a touch during each step and you won't have to add any in the end.

Start off by sautéing your onions. I am greek and I usually use olive oil. To the Thai food purists that may be blasphemy, but I like the way it tastes. You can use whatever you'd like really. If you only have canola oil it's not a problem.

Sautée these onions until they are nice golden color. Remove them and put them off to the side.

In the same pot, add a touch more oil and sautée the potatoes for a little bit (after they've been cubed and rinsed). Remove that off to the side with the onions.

Then, sautée your carrots and peppers for a couple of minutes. Just enough to release a bit of flavor. Remove them off to the side as well.

Now let's cook this lovely chicken that we've sliced up. Keeping to our one-pot theme, add a bit more oil and sautée your chicken until it cooks on the outside and turns white. Again, put this off to the side when it's done. Don't cook it fully as the chicken will continue to cook in the sauce.

Now for the fun part.

Add a bit more oil, and sautée the curry paste. This is a very important step.

Look at that deliciousness!

Once you've heated up the paste, add your two cans of coconut milk slowly, whisking at a gentle pace to combine the two evenly and create a sauce.

Bring this to a soft boil and add all of your ingredients into the sauce including the bay leaf. Cover and let it simmer on a medium-low heat. Let this cook slowly for about 35-40 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce has "tightened" up a little bit. You don't want it runny.

Be sure to stir it often and inhale the wonderful aromas. Mmm... it smells terrific!

It's almost done! Looking good. I love the color of that Panang Curry paste.

This will serve 4-5 people, maybe more. Serve it with jasmine rice... and make sure you cook plenty of it!

Here's the final product. Presentation could use some work but we we're hungry. The curry was far too hot for my girlfriend (she's a massaman lover).

Spicy!

I enjoyed it!