Cooking with Jawsua: Thai

Hello Readers,

This is probably my favorite Thai curry. It is richer and milder than most Thai curries but there is still some kick in there. Like red curry, panang curry is most popular in the central plains region of Thailand, around Bangkok. The history of panang curry is one that is debatable and I have seen conflicting sources on the internet with some saying it came from Malaysia or Laos, while others saying that it originated in Thailand itself. Overall, I would say that the origin of panang curry is acknowledged to be unknown. As much as I love finding the exact origins of a dish, I love the mystery of not knowing also. It makes a nation's cuisine unique and its own.

I decided to do this curry because I had ingredients from last week's recipe that needed to be used up. I always seem to have left over ingredients after cooking a dish, and in an attempt to use up those ingredients, I end up with even more left over ones. Any one else seem to run into that endless loop? This recipe again comes from our friends at Temple of Thai. I follow this recipe pretty closely, only making a few changes. There are not very many steps to this curry, so I think it is something that all of you can easily enjoy at home!

Josh's Panang Curry

Ingredients (Serves about 4):

1 19 oz can of thick coconut milk
4 tablespoons of panang curry paste
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in thin strips (roughly 1 to 1 1/2 lbs)
7 finely chopped kaffir lime leaves
2 tablespoons of palm sugar
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 1/2 cups of Thai basil
3 tablespoons of chopped peanuts

Directions:

Pour 1 cup (8 oz) of thick coconut milk into a large pan. Stir on medium heat until some of the coconut oil begins to separate. The coconut milk used in this recipe is much thicker and richer than what I used in red curry recipe. The can's label might identify the coconut milk as think but if it doesn't, look at the nutrition guide on the back. The milk should be around 150 calories for a 1/3 of a cup (80 grams). I use 19 oz because that is the size of the can. Really, with this recipe you can use anywhere from 15 to 20 oz.

The thick coconut milk and curry paste that I use
Add 4 tablespoons of panang curry paste. Stir for about 3 minutes. The mixture that this creates should be a little bit more on the pasty side, kind of like gravy.

Milk and curry paste mix should have a gravy-like consistency
Add strips of chicken breast and finely chopped lime leaves. Stir until outside of chicken is cooked. The original recipe calls for the lime leaves to be added later but I love the taste and fragrance that they give off, so I add them earlier. The chicken doesn't need to be all the way cooked yet, but you should make sure most of the outside is cooked. No one likes raw chicken.

Chicken and curry mixture

Lime leaves

Chopped up lime leaves and Thai basil that will be use later
Add remaining coconut milk. Bring to a boil on medium. Once the milk come to a boil all the chicken will be fully cooked.
Add 2 tablespoons each of palm sugar and fish sauce. The palm sugar adds a nice amount of sweetness and the fish sauce adds a savory and salty flavor. If you don't have palm sugar, brown sugar is a good alternative.
Turn off stove and add 1 1/2 cups of Thai basil and 3 tablespoons of chopped peanuts. The peanuts are option but I love that little crunch they give. The original recipe called for only 1/2 a cup of Thai basil, but you guys all know how much I love basil!

Add in the basil!

Stir in the basil!
Plate on dish with a side of jasmine rice and eat! This curry doesn't need to be plated in a bowl. With a thicker consistency, a plate it the way to go!

Yum!

This dish is quite a bit easier to make than the red curry recipe I did last week. I hope you all get a chance to try out this recipe this weekend. Leave me a comment so I know how it went for you! Enjoy!

Josh

Sources:

http://www.templeofthai.com/recipes/panang-curry.php

http://highheelgourmet.com/2013/09/29/authentic-thai-panang-curry/

http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/education/thai-curries-a-guide/c27601.aspx

http://www.templeofthai.com/cooking/types-thai-curry-regional.php

Hello All,

So I have been on a ridiculous curry kick the past month or so. It is a comfort food but with a fresh and healthy twist. A win-win if you ask me. Over the past few weeks I have tried out green, panang, and yellow curry recipes, and this week I thought I would take on red curry. I hadn't cooked this kind of curry before but I thought that this blog would be a good example of what goes through my mind when I tackle a new dish. If you are a fan of the other curries, don't worry, I will blog about them soon enough. Red curry has a spicy herbal fragrance and taste, and has more of a soup like consistency than other curries. It is most popular in central plains region of Thailand, around Bangkok. (Sorry, had to do the geography lesson. haha)

Central Thai Plains Region

The recipe of red curry that I decided to work off of came from the website Temple of Thai. I have used recipes from the website before and they turned out really well. I figured it was a trusty source to begin my blog with. The recipe called for these ingredients:

Temple of Thai Red Curry

3 Tablespoons of red curry paste
4 cups coconut milk
2 lbs (1 kg) small chicken drumsticks or chicken in small pieces (about 1.5" x 2")
3 cups (600 grams) pumpkin pieces (about 1" x 1.5")
2 cups lightly packed fresh sweet basil or 4 kaffir lime leaves

I decided to tweak the recipe a little and move away from the Asian pumpkin (known to many as kabocha) and go to vegetables that are popular in the central plains of Thailand. While I have used Asian pumpkin quite a bit in Korean cooking, I was looking for something a little lighter and more fragrant, to fit in with the spring like weather we have been having in Oregon. In replacement of the Asian pumpkin I decided to go with a mix of Thai eggplant, bamboo shoots, white onion, and carrot. Thai eggplant and bamboo and very popular central Thai ingredients, white onion adds great fragrance, and carrot makes up for some of the loss sweetness that the pumpkin had. I also made a few tweaks to the chicken and lime leaves that I will explain in my recipe. With out further ado, here is my first recipe from Cooking with Jawsua!

Josh's Thai Red Curry

Ingredients (Serves about 4):

4 cups of coconut milk
3 tablespoons of red curry paste
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in thin strips (roughly 1 to 1 1/2 lbs)
5 Thai eggplants quartered
1 8 oz can of sliced bamboo shoots
1/2 cup of onion chunks
1/2 cup of sliced carrots
4 finely chopped kaffir lime leaves
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon of palm sugar
2 1/2 cups of Thai basil

Directions:

Pour 4 cups of coconut milk into a large pan. On medium heat bring to a slight boil. I encourage people to buy cans of coconut milk from your nearest Asian grocery store. It is about two dollars cheaper a can. I go to Fubonn on 82nd St. in Portland.
Add 3 tablespoons of red curry paste to pan and blend with milk. I use canned curry paste but I hope to eventually start making my own. With the curry paste that I buy, 3 tablespoons is half the can.
Add strips of chicken breast. Bring back to boil. I thought that it would be much healthier and easier to eat the curry with chicken breast versus drumsticks. Some flavor is lost by doing this though. An alternative could be to cut up a whole chicken and keep the skin on.
Add quartered Thai eggplant, sliced bamboo shoots, onion chunks, and sliced carrot, and chopped kaffir lime leaves to curry. Cook for around 10 minutes or until veggies just start to get a little soft. I think that the veggies in curry are a best when they are a little al dente. They still keep their flavor but it is not too overpowering and gives a chance for some of those flavors to meld into the coconut milk. If you aren't a fan of one of these veggies. Just cut it out and add a little more of the others, or go with less or more veggies overall. Have fun with it!

Some of you might be asking "What the heck are Thai eggplants???" The best way to describe is to just show a picture.

You can also get these at Asian grocery stores. Don't have one next to you? I say it would be best to just skip it, but you could also use purple eggplant. The original recipe called for kaffir lime leaves to be added at the end and only as an alternative to basil. I love the slight flavor of lime leaves though, and they are edible when smaller, so I thought it would be smart to chop them up and add them earlier so that their flavor infuses more into the curry.
Add a tablespoon of fish sauce and 1/2 a tablespoon of palm sugar. When taste testing my curry I thought that it was just a hair off and could use a little more sweetness from the palm sugar and savory flavor from the fish sauce. In my opinion I was spot on. I encourage to cater to your tastes though. Cane sugar can be used in place of palm sugar but the taste is not as authentic.
Turn off stove and add 2 1/2 cups of Thai basil. I love Thai basil. It is a little on the sweet side and makes dishes taste and smell very fresh and light. The original recipe called for 2 cups, but I felt like it needed just a bit more.
Plate up bowl with a side of Thai jasmine rice and enjoy! Too cook jasmine rice I rinse the rice and then do 1 1/2 parts water to 1 part rice. I bring to a boil on the stove and then cover and simmer for 30 min.

I hope you enjoyed reading my first recipe and found it easy to follow and educational. I am receptive to any feedback, both positive and constructive. If you have an opinion on the blog or the recipe, let me know in the comments. This is definitely a spicy curry dish. I will be doing more mild curry dishes in the near future. That being said, I hope you all get a chance to try the dish soon!