Panang Beef Curry

Who doesn’t love a good curry, and with globalisation we are spoilt for choice as there are so many to choose from. And one of my favourites, is the Thai Panang Beef Curry. It’s up there with Masaman Curry and the Filipino Chicken Curry.

One of the best Panang Curry I had was at China Doll, an iconic restaurant in Sydney and this is the dish that I tried to recreate in the following recipe. It’s pretty close to the China Doll version, according to the Persian Prince, who was my companion when we dined at China Doll. Meaning, we don’t have to go out anymore for Panang Curry. I’m ever so glad, as I can only afford to dine out once in a blue moon.

What is Panang Curry

The base of Panang is red curry paste tempered by rich coconut cream. It has the traditional Thai flavouring of Lemongrass, Thai Basil and Peanuts. It’s bold in flavour – sweet, sour and salty notes balanced together , which is the trademark of a great Thai dish.

Panang Curry is very similar to Masaman Curry. Panang is red while Masaman is more orange yellow from the added turmeric. Masaman has the Indian and Persian influences as it includes cumin turmeric cinnamon stick and bay leaves, while Panang is more traditional Thai. Both are very delicious and can be as hot or as mild as you want it to be. While you’re here, here’s the recipe for Masaman Beef Curry .

What you need to make Panang Beef Curry

While I try to be as authentic as possible, the reality is I don’t have the time and ingredients to do so. My friend Sujira, who is originally from Thailand, tells me, that the Thai restaurant she used to work for uses the Maesri Red Curry Paste for their Panang Curry. If it’s good enough for Chef Sujira, it’s certainly good enough for me. So here we are.

• Beef – The best cut of beef for the long simmering process is Beef Short Ribs or Chuck Steak cut up into serving pieces. Lamb can also be used, if you don’t like beef.
• From the Asian Aisle –Maesri Red Curry paste or Maesri Panang Curry, Coconut Cream,Fish Sauce, Thai Basil,Crispy Fried Shallots
• Pantry Items – Cooking Oil, Potatoes,Onion, Carrot , Garlic, Brown Sugar, Salt and Pepper, Capsicum,Peanuts
• Aromatics – Lemon Grass,Kaffir Lime Leaves(Makrut). Bash the lemon grass with the back of a knife to release the flavour, then tie it into a knot so its easy to fish out. The aromatics used here are discarded before serving as they are tough and fibrous. Lime leaves are available in most fruit and veggie shops and is either fresh, brined or frozen. There’s no substitute for it, so just leave it out if not available.

Easy does it…

This is not a dish that you can whip up in a hurry, but once the beef is cooked, it takes less than half an hour to put together. To summarise, cook the beef until tender, make the sauce, put them together and serve. Easy peasy.

• Place the beef pieces together with onion and carrot in a pan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until the beef is tender. If you have a slow cooker or a pressure cooker, you can use that to cook the beef.
• Ideally, cook the beef a day before, so that the fat that’s on top can be removed easily. Otherwise, just remove as much of the oil that rises up to the top as much as possible.
• Keep the broth that the beef was cooked in. Strain out and discard the solids and freeze the broth to use later as beef stock. Delicious as soup base for ramen.
  

• Make the curry sauce by cooking the onion and garlic until fragrant. Add the curry paste , the knot of lemon grass and cook for another 2 minutes. Then add the coconut cream. Do not shake the can of coconut cream. Use a spoon to hold back some of the thicker part of the coconut cream, which you can use as a garnish later.
• Add potatoes ,fish sauce,sugar, sliced capsicums and lime leaves to the pan and cook until potatoes are fork tender. The China Doll version did not have potatoes, I like potatoes on mine, sometimes carrots to bulk it up.
• Place the cooked beef pieces on top of the potatoes and spoon some of the curry sauce on top of the beef. Try not too stir too much so the beef does not disintegrate.
• Simmer for a further 5 minutes, by which time the beef is warmed up and the sauce thickens.
• Remove from heat . Fish out the lemon grass and discard. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and crispy shallots. Drizzle the reserved Coconut cream on top and scatter Thai Basil leaves on top as garnish. Serve with steamed Jasmine Rice.

If you do make this dish, or have any question, please leave me a message via the comment section below. I would love to hear from you! Cheers.

Panang Beef Curry

Recipe by acmowlai

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: MainCuisine: ThaiDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Succulent Beef Pieces in Rich Curry Sauce with Peanuts and Thai Basil

Ingredients

• 800g Beef Short Ribs, or Chuck Steak, cut into serving pieces

• 1 large onion, peeled and quartered or 1 large leek, cleaned and sliced including the leaves

• 1 Carrot, sliced into 8 pieces

• Salt and Pepper

• Panang Curry Sauce

• 2 tablespoons Cooking Oil

• 1 x 114g Maesri Brand Red Curry Paste or Panang Curry Paste

• 1 Onion, peeled and sliced

• 6 cloves Garlic, peeled and minced

• 1 stalk Lemon Grass

• 1 teaspoon Fish Sauce

• 1 tablespoon Sugar

• 2 or 3 kaffir Lime Leaves, fresh or dried

• 4 Potatoes, cut up into serving pieces

• 1 400ml can Coconut Cream
  1 small Red Capsicum, sliced finely

• Garnish

• 4 tablespoons roasted peanuts,roughly chopped

• Crispy Fried Shallots or Garlic Chips

• small bunch of Thai Basil, use the leaves only

• Sliced Red Chillies,optional if you want it more spicy

Directions

• Place beef pieces in a saucepan. Add onions and carrots, pinch of salt and pepper and enough cold water to cover. Bring to boil , then lower heat and simmer until the beef is fork tender. It may take from 1 to two hours depending on the type of beef you used. Alternatively, use a slow cooker or pressure cooker.
• Cool and set aside until ready for use. Discard the fat that’s coagulated on top before using.
• Panang Curry Sauce
• Place cooking oil in a large skillet and heat on medium. Add sliced onions and garlic and cook until onions are wilted and fragrant. Add curry paste to the pan and cook another 2 minutes.
• Add Coconut Cream, reserve the thicker part of the cream to drizzle on top of the finished dish. Then add potatoes, cover with lid and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
  
• To the pan, add fish sauce , lime leaves and sugar and then add the beef pieces and sliced capsicums on top. Spoon some of the sauce on top of the beef, and cook for another 5 minutes, by which time the beef will be warmed through and the sauce have thickened a little. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary.
• Remove pan from heat. Drizzle the reserved Coconut Cream on the top. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts, crispy shallots , sliced red chillies if you want it spicier and top with Thai Basil leaves.
• Serve with steamed Jasmine Rice.

Notes

• Even better the next day!