OhMyGod I love CURRY!!!

So one benefit of working in a downtown high rise is having the luxury of a gazillion hole-in-the-wall, chain and one-off restaurants within walking distance. There is a Thai restaurant in the lobby of one such high rise that has me craving it at least weekly. Specifically their Panang Curry.

A good friend of mine, with whom I lunch often, is just learning the ways of the Thai food so it's not always at the top of the list. Which I wholeheartedly accept; it's an acquired taste for most people and can be VERY hit and miss from place to place, and even from dish to dish in one place. So last week, in lieu of curry we had burritos. Which were also awesome and may end up in another post.

Burritos are not curry. I don't know how I can stress this enough. So when you crave curry you will continue to crave it until you get it. Therefore I was drawn to figure out how to make it at home.

It was a last minute sort of "let's make this for dinner" deal, so I didn't have everything on hand and, of course, I improvised a lot. I used it with lots of sweet onions, some red bell pepper, baby bok choy and chicken thigh meat. It was delicious. I love it! Originally for dinner we ate it with rice and some bomb Naan I bought from Whole Foods. I've been eating the leftovers for three days; over rice, over Phad Thai noodles... Yummmmmmm...

Below is the recipe that inspired me from a website called On Thai Time. It should be known that I am often inspired by recipes but rarely use them word for word unless I'm baking. So I left things out (including the leaves and peas), I added some stuff (some peanut butter and a little brown sugar to name some), I encourage anyone to be creative and do the same. And I also recommend the Chiang Mai curry powder blend that can be found at World Market.

Panang curry paste ingredients:
Chili peppers
Galangal (a root)
Lemongrass
Coriander
Cumin
Garlic
Shallots
Peanuts
Shrimp paste
Salt

The ingredients for our Panang curry recipe are as follows:Ingredients
Your choice of chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or any other meat (or none)
2 cups rice
2 cans coconut milk (use light coconut milk if you prefer)
1.5 Tbsp panang curry paste
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup peas
4-6 Kaffir lime leaves
Sweet basil leaves (for garnish)
Some water (to thin out and make more soupy, less thick)

Bring the coconut milk, curry paste, sugar, and fish sauce together in a pot, bring to a boil and let it boil for 5 minutes. Next, add your meat or fish (optional), peas and kaffir lime leaves and simmer for an additional ten minutes. Before you remove from heat, make sure the meat or fish is cooked all the way!