Chicken Panang Curry

If you haven't tried panang curry, it's time you did! Panang curry is a delightful mixture of spices with a touch of heat along with a bit of coconut milk to tame that heat. Panang curry paste is more difficult to find than the more common red or yellow curry pastes at my regular groceries, but it should be readily available at your local Asian market. However, I found a new product at Trader Joe's, their Malabar Style Curry Sauce, that I was able to doctor so that it tastes surprisingly similar to panang curry. 

Ingredients: 

1 tsp olive oil

4 chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces

1 tsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 red pepper, sliced

1/2 yellow or orange pepper, sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal

1 clove garlic, minced

1 packet Trader Joes' malabar style curry sauce 

1 Tbs peanut butter (optional)

1 Tbs fish sauce or Tamari soy sauce (use Tamari instead of soy sauce for gluten free)

1 lime, cut in half, one half juiced, the other half cut into wedges

1 green onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup Thai basil or regular basil leaves, sliced

1/4 cup roasted peanuts or almonds

2 cups cooked brown rice

Directions: 

Heat the first teaspoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the chicken pieces until they are no longer pink on the outside. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Add the second teaspoon of olive oil, along with the onion, peppers, carrots, and garlic and cook for one or two minutes, until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add the curry sauce. Panang curry typically includes coconut milk, peanut butter, and fish sauce. The Malabar curry sauce includes coconut milk; however, it doesn't include either peanut butter or fish sauce. So, add some peanut butter, fish or soy sauce, and the lime juice to make this taste just like panang curry. 

Cook over medium heat until the carrots are crisp tender. Add the chicken back to the pan and continue to cook until everything is hot, and the chicken is cooked through. Serve over brown rice, topped with green onion, basil leaves, and roasted peanuts. 

Stealthy Cooking Tip: If you have an Asian market nearby, you can probably find Panang curry paste. Here's how to use it to make panang curry. Substitute 2 tablespoons of the curry paste for the malabar style curry sauce. Omit both the peanut butter and fish or soy sauce, then add 1/2 cup light coconut milk.