A classic, much loved Thai curry, and a very quick one to cook: panang curry! Instead of being soupy like most other Thai curries, this one is more of a saucy curry with a thick, rich, luscious, flavourful sauce. In this video I also give you a recipe for how to make a "semi-homemade" panang curry paste using store-bought red curry paste as a base.
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What is Panang Curry?
Panang curry is kind of an interesting dish, because it's quite unique compared to other Thai curries. You may have noticed that most dishes that are classified as "curry" of "gaeng" in Thai cuisine are rather soupy. Lots of sauce, thin and runny sauce, some are even water-based and eat very much like brothy soups like this sour curry or this breast milk boosting curry. (If you have my cookbook, I talk about what is curry in there.)
Panang, on the other hand, might be closer to what you imagine when you think of the word "curry"— a thicker, richer sauce, and just enough of it to coat all the stuff and pool a little. We even have a special word for this amount of liquid in a dish, it's called "kluk klik". Panang is also unique in that it is all meat—it never has any vegetables added to it. The meat is always thinly sliced, and at most you'll get some red peppers thrown in as garnish.
Flavour-wise, it is similar to a red curry with a couple of important ingredients added: coriander, cumin, and peanuts. You can check out my Thai red curry recipe to compare!
It's a great weeknight curry because it comes together so fast. The cooking technique is almost more of a stir-fry, which awesome!
How to Ensure Tender Beef
When eating a beef curry or stir-fry, my biggest pet peeve is when the meat is chewy. I hate it. No matter how delicious it is...if the meat it chewy, the dish is ruined in my books. There are a few simple keys to make sure you have tender beef without having to braise it for a long time.
- Choose a cut of beef that you would eat as a steak. The assumption being that any beef you will eat as a steak is considered "tender", at least compared to cuts you would need to stew or braise. This is a good rule of thumb for choosing stir-fry beef, which this recipe essentially is. I'm using New York strip in this video (it's a particularly fatty one, which was just a lucky pick at the store!).This does NOT mean it has to be an expensive cut, but if you're choosing the less expensive, leaner steaks, the next two points are very important.
- Slice the meat AGAINST THE GRAIN. If the meat is naturally tender (New York, ribeye, or tenderloin), it's not as big of a deal, but for cuts that are borderline chewy....like flank, or lean sirloin tip, it's very important. You want the shortest meat fibers possible because the longer it is, the harder it is to chew. Think of slicing the beef as "pre-chewing"—let the knife do the hard work for you. So pay attention to your steak, look at which direction the meat grain runs, and slice across it. See my video for an example.
- Slice meat THINLY. For 2 reasons, one is because the thinner the beef the more tender is it to chew, which is important if you're using leaner, less tender meat. The other reason is that this is a quick-cooking curry, not a long simmering one, so if the meat is thick the flavour will not have time to penetrate the inside. Using meat that is still a little frozen inside makes slicing thinly much easier.
Watch The Full Video Tutorial!
All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!
Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make this recipe. For amounts, check out the full recipe card below.
- Beef, very thinly sliced against the grain (see notes about tender beef above)
- Fish sauce. More about fish sauce here.
- Oil
- Coconut milk
- Homemade or semi-homemade panang curry paste (recipe follows)
- Makrut lime leaves, 7 roughly torn into chunks which we'll add to the curry, and 3 finely julienned which we will use as garnish on top.
- Palm sugar, finely chopped, packed. If you don't have it, light brown or even granulated white sugar will be fine as it is a small amount.
- A handful mild red pepper, thinly julienned for garnish, optional
- Jasmine rice for serving
Semi-Homemade Panang Curry Paste
If you can't find pre-made panang curry paste at the store, you can easily make one using red curry paste as a base.
- Store bought red curry paste. I recommend Maeploy, Aroy D, Maesri and Namjai brands. I don't recommend Thai Kitchen. Read my red curry paste review here.
- Toasted cumin seeds.
- Toasted coriander seeds. Do not use ground coriander as it is often lacking in flavour. Buy whole coriander seeds, widely available at Asian and Indian grocery stores.
- Roasted peanuts, if allergic, you can sub another type of nuts or seeds.
- Fermented shrimp paste, for some extra umami. This is optional, only if the red curry paste doesn’t already have it.
How to Make Panang Curry Beef
Here are all the steps to make this recipe. If this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success.
For the semi-homemade panang curry paste:
- Grind the cumin and coriander seeds until very fine using a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder.
- Add roasted peanuts and grind until fine.
- Mix the red curry paste and shrimp paste into the ground spice mixture.
For the Curry
- Add 1½ teaspoon fish sauce and oil to beef and massage it in with your hands, separating the pieces of beef that are stuck together as you mix.
- In a saute pan or a wok over medium high heat, reduce ¾ cup coconut milk until thickened and creamy.
- Stir in curry paste and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook the paste for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until coconut oil separates away from the paste. If the paste sticks to the pan, you can deglaze with a bit of the remaining coconut milk.
- Add palm sugar and torn kaffir lime leaves and cook for a minute or so until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add beef and quickly toss it with the curry paste, separating the pieces of beef as much as you can. Once the beef is about 50% cooked, add the remaining coconut milk and stir for 30 more seconds or just until the beef is fully cooked. If it looks too dry, you can add a splash of water at this point.
- Stir in red peppers, if using, and turn off the heat.
- Taste and adjust seasoning with more fish sauce and/or sugar as needed.
- Garnish with julienned kaffir lime leaves and more red peppers as desired.
- Serve with jasmine rice, enjoy!
Recipe Card
Print
Panang Curry Beef แพนงเนื้อ
- Yield: 2-3 servings
Ingredients
- 300g beef, very thinly sliced against the grain (see notes about tender beef above)
- 1½ tsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp oil
- ¾ cup + ½ cup coconut milk
- 1 recipe homemade or semi-homemade panang curry paste (recipe follows)
- 10 kaffir lime leaves, 7 roughly torn, 3 finely julienned
- ~1 teaspoon fish sauce, to taste
- 1½ Tbsp palm sugar, finely chopped, packed (if using granulated sugar, use 1 tablespoon to start then taste and adjust)
- A handful mild red pepper, thinly julienned for garnish, optional
- Jasmine rice for serving
Semi-Homemade Panang Curry Paste
- 3-4 tablespoon red curry paste (see notes)
- ¾ tsp toasted cumin seeds
- 1 ½ tsp toasted coriander seeds
- 2 Tbsp roasted peanuts, unsalted (if allergic, sub another type of nuts or seeds)
- 1 tsp fermented shrimp paste (optional, only if the red curry paste doesn’t already have it)
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We can email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Instructions
For the semi-homemade panang curry paste:
- Grind the cumin and coriander seeds until very fine using a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder.
- Add roasted peanuts and grind until fine.
- Mix the red curry paste and shrimp paste into the ground spice mixture.
For the Curry
- Add 1½ teaspoon fish sauce and oil to beef and massage it in with your hands, separating the pieces of beef that are stuck together as you mix.
- In a saute pan or a wok over medium high heat, reduce ¾ cup coconut milk until thickened and creamy.
- Stir in curry paste and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook the paste for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until coconut oil separates away from the paste. If the paste sticks to the pan, you can deglaze with a bit of the remaining coconut milk.
- Add palm sugar and torn kaffir lime leaves and cook for a minute or so until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add beef and quickly toss it with the curry paste, separating the pieces of beef as much as you can. Once the beef is about 50% cooked, add the remaining coconut milk and stir for 30 more seconds or just until the beef is fully cooked. If it looks too dry, you can add a splash of water at this point.
- Stir in red peppers, if using, and turn off the heat.
- Taste and adjust seasoning with more fish sauce and/or sugar as needed.
- Garnish with julienned kaffir lime leaves and more red peppers as desired.
- Serve with jasmine rice, enjoy!
Notes
You can use any curry paste brand that you like. In this video I used Maesri brand. Watch this video for my tips on choosing a curry paste.
Sheetal Wrzesien says
This recipe is absolutely fantastic. I have tried various other Panang curry recipes and none come close. It is so good that my family can no longer eat Panang curry at a restaurant! This curry is even better with pan seared duck breast (try it with d’artagnan Magret duck breast).
Rebecca says
This is so delicious! I made it with storebought panang paste and added peanuts. I also added a bit more red bell pepper to have more vegetables.
Rina says
Hi Pai,
If I need to make a large batch, what is your recommendation in terms of cooking all the beef at once or does it need to be done in batches? If it needs to be done in batches, how many servings per batch? Thank you so much. This recipe is delicious!
Pailin Chongchitnant says
You can cook all the beef in one batch, but you will probably end up with a saucier dish as you'll have more beef juices in the dish so seasonings may have to be adjusted at the end.
Nathalie says
Hello Pai,
I have the store bought version of panang curry paste from maesri but it doesn’t have peanut in the ingredients list. It has mung bean instead. Can i add grind roasted peanut to it or the curry will be too thick ? Thank you so much 😊
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Yes, you can just add 2 tablespoons of ground roasted peanuts, it should work out fine.
Max says
Hi Pai,
I have not made this dish, I have made the chicken version which I need to redo. I use Mae Ploy curry paste as I find it the best and it was in one of your videos.
As you know fresh Kafir lime leaves are impossible at least for me in Florida to acquire. I buy dehydrated leaves from Amazon and what I do, is steep them in hot water for about 15 minutes. That seems to do the trick.
I make a dish of yours, the red curry chicken, Pad Prik King, that my wife says is better than what she has at Thai Restaurants. I need to give you a 5-star rating on that one.
Thank you
PS: I will come back to rate after I make it 🙂
LauraLee says
Also used the Mae Ploy red curry paste, and it’s spicy, but oh so flavorful. Even my husband whose spice challenged, loved it. Used a NY Strip, and the meat was incredibly tender due to cutting across the grain. A great curry for beef. Made the Milk Pudding recipe for dessert. I added some of extra lime leaves into my rice. I’ve used regular lime zest in rice before, but not the Makrut lime leaves. Very tasty, and just enough of a hint of flavor without taking over the jasmine. Great dinner! Thanks Pai.
Wesley Margeson says
This was delicious and so easy! I had store bought Panang curry paste, but added the semi-homemade ingredients anyway to freshen it up. I paired it with a vegetarian green curry made with veggies and green curry paste ingredients from our garden as well as a cucumber salad.
Fred says
The Mae Ploy Panang curry paste is quite spicy, so I used a bit less. One thing about the recipe I didn't understand. It reads: "1½ Tbsp palm sugar, finely chopped, packed (if using granulated sugar, use 1 teaspoon to start then taste and adjust)". Is that correct (4.5 to 1)?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Ah that should say 1 Tbsp, thanks for the heads up, fixing it now!
Thomas says
Hi Fred, I am also using this. How much did you use? I can handle some heat, but am planning to cook for some friends who cannot, haha! So I'm looking for a milder alternative.
Fred says
Hi Thomas,
I used 2.5 Tbsp Mae Ploy red curry paste as a basis for Pailin's semi-homemade panang curry paste recipe and adjusted the other ingredients of her paste accordingly (so, multiplied by a factor 2.5/3.5). And even then I had to add some additional coconut milk (approx. 1/4 cup) at the end to tone down the heat. Please note that - in particular for red curry paste - the Mae Ploy brand is quite spicy. And salty: you don't need to add additional fish sauce at the end if you use Mae Ploy.
Make sure your friends eat the curry with jasmine rice and don't let them drink water or alcohol while eating, but dairy products 🙂
lady Di says
Really simple & good & so easy!
HJ says
Exceptional recipe. We added more veggies - onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms. wonderful taste and just the right amount of spices
Thomas says
Made this curry with Mae Ploy Red Curry paste twice and although it came out really tasty, it was also really spicy. Any tips on how to lose some heat without losing the taste?
Thanks!
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Hi Thomas, glad it came out tasty! So unfortunately the only way to reduce heat is for you to use less paste, but that obviously means you will lose flavour. The only other option here is for you to explore another brand that is less spicy and is more tolerable for you. Try Aroy D, Nam Jai or Maesri and see how they go!
Nic Neufeld says
Hello, I'm making this tomorrow night. I do have a question...sometimes with canned coconut milk it stratified into an almost solid section with a liquid, more translucent section. I assume the solid bit is more fatty, so if you were using it in a curry, you'd want to start out with the whiter/solid part of the coconut milk to fry the paste in, then use the thinner, more watery part later, so you have more of the oily part up front for frying? Or is it better to mix it all up and evenly divide?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Hi! You can just scoop up the solid bit and use that for the frying, and use the thinner part for the rest, no need to mix it all up. However, if you're not going to use the whole can, I suggest mixing it all up (applying heat will help it mix better) otherwise the stuff leftover is going to be too thin and not useful for other recipes.
Brent Jopko says
I made this curry with only vegetables using the home made paste from Pai's recipe.
This dish was amazing! So delicious and full of flavour, it's definitely a keeper.
My wife and I are living in Thailand so thankfully I am able to get all the correct ingredients, some fresh from the garden.
Thank you Pai, great recipes on your site, this is the third one I have tried and all have been delicious.
Rob Mavis says
Your Panang Curry is great. I'm having a Thai food party night, will it keep overnight
Rob Mavis says
I’ll answer my own post. The Panang Beef kept beautifully. We had the Thai feast: Panang beef, Sweet Chili Atlantic cod, Green Curry chicken, Tom Kha Gai soup, Black Pepper Beef stir fry, Basil stir fry sauce over beef and fish, and 5 minute Pad Thai. All a success. Most prepared partially the day before. Served is less that an hour. All Thai and all Pai’s creations. Except for a Korean radish salad I got from Maangchi. Thanks Pai!
Raven says
This dish is my husbands favorite and every time he goes to his favorite Thai restaurant he asks for native heat. Is this recipe considered ‘native’ hot? Haha apparently Grandma ( it’s a family owned restaurant he goes to and the grandma does all the cooking) has three types of heat— Mild, Spicy and Native. Thank you!
Jennifer says
I can’t find the lime leaves anywhere local? Any ideas? Can I order online maybe?
Jeanette says
This proved to be an absolutely fantastic receipe. I used my own Thai red curry paste for the Panang curry paste. It was a great meal for two people. I used a little less meat and coconut milk. I also had cauliflower rice instead of jasmine rice.
Thank you for a wonderful receipe and video.
Adam The HTK Minion says
Great to hear!! 🙂
Brian says
Excellent recipe. I made it with flank steak for three of us, the portion size was perfect, and everyone loved it. It’s a keeper!
Chloe says
Is Mae Ploy 'Red Chili Paste' red curry? That's what I used and it came great! Even my 6 yr old ate some! I also have some Maesri canned curry pastes, Kaeng Par and Prik Khing, just wondering if I made the right curry paste choice?
Thank you! I love the channel 😀
Chloe
Richard says
Pai.... Marry Me! lol !!! This is wonderful as I wanted to venture into penang style curry. Thanks for your tutorial!
Ian says
Made this with pork and it was fantastic.
AJ Ronaldo says
Made this numerous times without fail. Very easy to follow-recipe 🤤
Natalie says
Perfect and easy recipe. Made it with chicken (cooked a tiny bit longer to make sure it’s done). Added fried julienned eggplant w garlic. Garnished with cilantro instead lime leaf that wasn’t available. And served it with Thai cucumber salad. It was a dream!
John says
Beautifully explained. Tried it yesterday and everyone loved it. Thanks Pailin!
Stephen Chan says
I love curry, and I love satay, Panang is just the mix of the two to me, awesome!